Things Aren't Always Perfect
by ThatBlondeALB
Summary: Sometimes love can make a person blind. Clary Fray fell in love with her best friend from high school, but she didn't know at the time that he was the wrong person to love.
1. Prologue

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED FOR THE WONDERFUL CASSANDRA CLARE

Prologue

The stars shimmered above two teenagers as they laid down to gaze at them. They were both on a blanket holding each other's hands in the grass. The girl looked over at the boy, distracted by the thoughtful look on his face, when she started remembering how they ended up like this-together.

She and him have always been friends since the first day of kindergarten. He sat all alone in his corner playing with tiny cars when she came up to him.

"Hi," she said a little shy of another kid.

The boy just glanced up at her.

She tried again. "May I play with you?" Giving him her biggest puppy dog eyes. No one can resist those.

"Okay. Just don' break em, Shorty." The little boy handed a few cars to her as she started pouting because of the nick-name.

It wasn't until eleventh grade that he finally gathered up the nerve to ask her out. Of course she said yes immediately having discovered she has feelings for him too last summer. Even after two years they were still going strong. Still in love.

When she felt a squeezing on her hand, she was pulled back into reality.

"What were you smiling at?" His eyes reflected a million stars. Oh she loved him so much it almost hurt.

She returned his squeeze with the same amount of pressure. "Nothing. Just how much you continue to amaze me with all of these dates."

Turning back to the night sky, she could feel him chuckle a little bit, "Glad you're impressed." Then he looked at her and said, "I love you Clary Fray."

"I love you Simon Lewis."

Everything seemed perfect. Not a care in their minds. Nothing could have ruined that night.

But sometimes, love can be blind.


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N Hey guys sorry for the wait! Life has been pretty hectic these past few weeks but I finally have some time to write the first chapter so YAY!**

 **ALL RIGHTS RESERVED FOR THE WONDERFUL CASSANDRA CLARE**

Clary Fray slammed the door to her and Simon's apartment, frustrated with the people at her college and how her painting turned out. It was Friday evening (thank goodness) and the redhead got home around six thirty. Everyone in her class decided to try and mess with Clary while she was painting and it screwed her up. All she wanted to do now was see her little nerd. Sometimes Simon would be home cooking some pasta or watching T.V. on the rare occasions that his work shift had ended early. She looked around for any signs that her boyfriend was home but to no avail. It appears she will just have to wait.

Setting her stuff down on the kitchen table, Clary rummaged through the mostly empty fridge for something to drink. The only things that were in there was half a glass of milk, a bowl of soup, three cans of soda and some bruised apples. Clary made a note to go shopping this weekend.

Clary sighed and sat on their red sofa in front of their tiny television. Money was tight and they could barely afford a fridge but Mrs. Lewis took pity on them and helped to chip in. It wasn't until three months of going to LIU Brooklyn that Simon got a job. Clary wasn't sure where it was but he did end up coming home with a lot of money every week. As for her, she worked at the school library to get some extra cash.

All of the sudden, Clary's phone started blaring the tune of "Bulletproof Love" by Pierce the Veil.

Scrambling off the couch and to the counter, she held the phone to her ear. "Hello?"

"Is this Clary Fray?" Said an unfamiliar voice.

"May I ask who is calling?" Clary replied, unsure and kind of nervous.

The voice answered hesitantly, "You wouldn't know who it is anyways. But my name is Alec. Alec Lightwood."

Lightwood. That name sounded familiar. Clary recalled Simon getting a call from a Lightwood when he left his phone at home before. She is pretty sure it was one of his coworkers. Who was it again? Elizabeth? Anabel? No it had to have been Isabelle!

With a burst of confidence she replied, "Oh! Are you related to Isabelle Lightwood?"

Silence

Clary almost thought that he had hung up but after a little while there was a reply. "Yes. I am her...brother." Alec seemed tense and there was something else in his voice that she couldn't quite make out.

"Okay well...wait how did you get my number?"

"That doesn't matter. I have some interesting information that I think you would like to know. Is there anyway we could meet up tonight?"

"Hmm," Clary was thoughtful for a moment. "Not tonight. Me and my boyfriend are having a movie night. And what kind of information are we talking about? You aren't a serial killer are you?"

There was an angry sigh on the other end of the line. "No I am most certainly not and I will tell you when I see you. This isn't really something that we should discuss over the phone. What time are you _not_ going to be screwing your boyfriend?"

"First of all, that is exactly what a murderer would say. Secondly, I am not screwing him tonight! It's just a sweet thing we do once a month. Third of all, my love life is none of your concern." Unknowingly, Clary had started pacing.

"I beg to differ." Alec mumbled with a dark chuckle. "Feisty one aren't you. Look this is something I can guarantee you should to know. As soon as possible."

She could tell that whatever this man had to tell her was important so she gave in. "Alright fine. But I am not meeting you alone where you can just kill me and bury my body while no one notices. I have to go shopping tomorrow morning. How about we meet up for lunch afterwards? Say, noon?"

"I guess that'll have to do. Meet me at Matt's Tower Of Pancakes. See you then." _Click_

That was weird, but Clary didn't have much time to think about it because a few minutes later Simon walked into the small apartment. "Hello, my darling." He said giving his girlfriend a peck on the cheek.

Still a little bit shaken from that strange phone call, Clary nodded in greeting, lost in thought.

"What's wrong?"

Of course he immediately knew that something was off but she didn't want him to worry. Clary looked up and smiled. "Nothing, I just missed you. That's all."

Simon grinned. "Alright well come on let's head up to bed. I for one, am exhausted."

This caused Clary's smile to turn into a frown. "But what about dinner? Our movie?"

"Sorry baby, I already ate at work. I thought you would have eaten by now."

"Oh." Was all she said in return.

The boy looked apologetic but he uttered, "You shouldn't have waited for me. I'll just be in bed. You can eat the rest of the soup and we can watch the movie tomorrow. Right now, I just want to go to bed and sleep." Simon turned and headed down the hall without waiting for a reply.

Clary felt dejected as she looked down at the floor. _He's just tired._ Leftover soup didn't sound so appetizing and Clary seemed to have lost her appetite.

She turned off the lights, locked the front door and walked towards their shared room. A half sigh/half laugh came from her as she heard Simon's loud snoring from outside the room. Clary realized that she too was also tired and that she will have to get up early to go to the store so she might as well hit the hay now. Crawling into bed, Clary closed her eyes and let her mind wander off.

 **Hey so what did you guys think? I would love to hear your opinions! Oh and thank you guys for favoring, following and reviewing! You guys are awesome!**

 **-ALB**


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N Hello again! I just wanted to thank all of you for reviewing and following. Now, onward!**

 **ALL RIGHTS RESERVED OF TMI BELONG TO THE BEAUTIFUL CASSANDRA CLARE**

The sun glared into Clary's closed eyes through the windows as it began to rise. Clary turned around in her bed only to realize that no matter what she did, she would never be comfortable. Groaning, she peered over at Simon, hoping that he would be awake and ready to apologize to Clary for last night like he normally does, only to find that he wasn't there. Clary was confused until she heard the very off pitch singing coming from the kitchen.

She groaned again as she rolled out of bed and stumbled towards the sound.

Her feet ached from getting up so fast but by the time Clary made it out the bedroom door, a smell of burning eggs hit her like a slap in the face. Simon was in front of their tiny stove with a frying pan in front of him. Clary slowly made her way to him and wrapped her arms around him. "What are you doing?" She asked even though it was pretty clear.

He leaned back a little into Clary's embrace as her replied, "Making you breakfast. I felt bad about last night and thought I could make it up to you."

"Aw, you didn't have to do that for me." In fact, she wished he hadn't. Not only did she feel guilty for making last night a big deal in her head, but now Clary would have to tough it out and eat the burnt eggs. Her nose wrinkled at the thought of it. Clary never enjoyed eggs much, even as a kid.

 _The things you_ _do for those you love._

A thought popped into her head as Clary remembered last night. She could have sworn that there had been hardly any food in the fridge. "Hey, where did you get the eggs anyways?" Her face twisted in confusion.

"I went and picked them up this morning."

"Oh." Her face softened and there wasn't much to be said so Clary just hugged Simon tighter and was waiting for the dreadful moment when she would have to eat the eggs. You would think that by now her boyfriend would learn her preferences. But Clary let that slide.

"Wallah!" The redhead looked up in surprise to see Simon placing blackened, somewhat scrambled eggs on two plates and set them down on their small table.

"Mmm," Clary said while biting her lip, "it looks..good."

He laughed and then asked jokingly, "So, I'm guessing you don't think I would make it on one of those cooking shows that you always watch?"

"Oh no, I know the perfect one for you." Clary pretended to be serious. "How about that one that finds the worst cooks and turns them into perfect ones?"

He just smiled and shook his head. "What am I ever going to do with you?"

"I have a few ideas." Disregarding the now cold eggs on the table, Clary pressed her lips onto Simon's cold hard ones.

After what seemed like forever, Clary pulled away. "I'm going shopping!" She announced and headed to the door.

"I'll come with you," Simon replied immediately following her to the door.

Too quickly, Clary shouted, "NO. I...I mean...I need to buy some...lady products that.. you probably won't want to be around."

Realization flashed across Simon's face along with a blush and then he looked uncomfortable. "Yeah...on second thought, have fun!"

It was around ten twenty by the time Clary pulled hers and Simon's old, cheap car into the store's lot. She had plenty of time before she had to go to the dinner across the street and meet the strange and mysterious Alec Lightwood.

Of course Clary didn't have to buy tampons like she had said but she needed Simon off her back. She didn't know what information Alec was going to tell her and it sounded like it was private.

An hour and ten minutes later, the ginger had gotten all of the items on her list that were in their budget range for the month. College was taking up most of the money that she earned from the library. Since there was still a half hour till she was supposed to meet the Lightwood boy, Clary decided to walk to Matt's Tower of Pancakes. It was her favorite place to eat at and it was super cheap.

Matt's Tower of Pancakes had faded out yellow paint. Almost everyone in the town knew the place as it has been there for more than half century. Even though it always appeared to be busy, the waitstaff could somehow find a seat for everyone. The owner of the restaurant was named Vic, a man who was very nice to all the customers. He had named this place after his brother who had passed away as a kid from cancer.

Looking both ways, Clary walked toward the building. The parking lot was not as full as it normally was. There was maybe about 11 or 12 cars there and hardly anyone was outside. By hardly she means there was only one person out.

The man was standing by what appeared to be his car and was talking angrily into his cell phone. Clary couldn't take her eyes off of him.

This guy looked like a fallen angel. He looked only slightly older than her. His hair was so blond that it looked golden. He had a tan that made his skin looked golden too. He had a chiseled chin and a muscular body that was covered in white shorts and a light blue shirt. A sudden ache went through Clary as her hands twitched because wanted to draw him so bad.

As she walked closer to him she could hear him yelling. "...do that! How in the hell is that fair to me? We've been sharing an apartment for nearly two years and now you are just going to randomly move out for some girl you hardly even know?!"

There was a pause for a little while and Clary slowed her pace just a little. Yeah eavesdropping is wrong but it's not like she will ever see him again. This thought made her a little sad for an unknown reason.

"Okay well how am I supposed to afford it by myself? Jordan, come on give me a break. So now I have to get a job because you and Maia want one for yourself. Well you can go shove a lamp up your-"

Clary gasped as the frustrated man met her eyes. Just like the rest of him, they were golden too.

She blushed, realizing that she had been caught, and ducked her head.

After rushing past him to the front doors she risked a quick glance back only to find that he was watching her with a sort of amusement.

A waitress was waiting behind the doors, waiting to take her to a seat.

"Actually, I'm meeting someone here. Has Alec Lightwood arrived yet?" The shorter girl's face was still flushed from her encounter with the golden angel.

The lady smiled and said, "Ah yes, right this way."

Clary honestly didn't know what she was expecting this "Alec" to look like. Maybe a big man with a beard and a bushy mustache. Or a hippy with a cane and a rainbow backpack. Whatever she was thinking of it was certainly not this.

Alec Lightwood was sitting in the corner booth with his head in his hands. He had almost black hair and a pair of striking blue eyes. His pants were black and he had a brown sweater on. Alec's leg was bouncing indicating that he was either nervous or anxious. Possibly both. Those feelings instantly transferred to Clary.

He looked up at her as she sat down and the look on his face was almost sympathetic. Almost.

"I'm afraid we have much to discuss, Clary Fray."

 **I felt as though I had kind of rushed last chapter so I wanted to kind of wanted to slow it down a little.**

 **So here we got a little into Clary and Simon's relationship. What do you think about them?**

 **And then of course Jace was introduced in this chapter. Yay!**

 **Hmm...wonder what is up with Alec…**

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **~ALB**


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N I know, I know I'm a terrible person. I am really sorry that I haven't updated in forever but I've just been super busy with school and stuff. Honestly I don't know when I will update this story and I apologize for that but anyways...Read on my young Padawans!**

 **DISCLAIMER: ALL RIGHTS TO THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS BELONG TO THE GREAT CASSANDRA CLARE**

There was a long awkward silence between Clary and Alec after she sat down. They just kind of looked at each other. It wasn't until the waiter came to take their order that both of the young adults resurfaced into reality. Alec order a soda and some french fries while Clary just ordered a strawberry milkshake.

"So…" Clary prompted getting nervous as the silence dragged on. "Lovely weather we are having."

Alec laughed dryly at the lousy attempt of conversation. "Okay, listen. You probably won't believe me when I tell you this but just hear me out okay?"

With narrowed eyes, Clary replied, "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Your boyfriend? Simon? I'm sorry. He's...not as loyal as you think. As in, he is cheating on you with my sister."

"How could you even say that? That is ridiculous. Simon would never do that to me. He loves me!"

"All I know is that every Monday through Thursday he picks Isabelle up from college and then takes her to our house to have sex."

"No that can't be right! He's works those days after class.." The red head jerked in her chair. Confusion flitted across her face. Then realization, sadness and finally anger. "I…"

"I know I was very blunt about it-"

"No just...just stop." Her little body began trembling. Everything made sense now. Why Simon was always working but never bringing home much money if any at all. Why he was always so vague about his job. Why Isabelle was the only coworker she had ever heard of. Tears started pooling in her eyes. Everything went blurry and Clary felt like she was about to puke. How could she have been so stupid to never see it coming?

Alec looked really awkward and didn't know what to do about the emotional girl so he started explaining how he found out. "I came home from my boyfriend's house and heard people in the hallway and when I went to see who it was, it was a boy named 'Si' as Isabelle had called him. I didn't think anything of it-Izzy always brings home playthings-but then his phone started ringing before she took his pants off. Izzy asked who it was and he said it was just Clary. He had rolled his eyes and said something about you being annoying for always calling him and that you couldn't satisfy Simon's needs. It was so wrong of her to have Simon be cheating on you that I found your number in his phone labeled "the gf Clary". Then I called you after Isabelle and Simon were..busy..."

Clary looked out the window with tears leaving trails down her cheeks. She hugged her arms to her chest but remained silent.

Alec opened his mouth and shut it a couple times like a fish, trying to find the right thing to say. Finally he just settled with an I'm sorry.

"I have nowhere to stay. Nowhere to go," Clary whimpered. "Gosh what am I going to do? I loved him!" She placed her head into the palms of her hands.

Before the Lightwood boy could say anything the door was slammed open and Jace stormed in towards Alec. "Well now apparently I need a new fucking roommate because Jordan is moving in with his girlfriend of two months." Just then he seemed to realize Clary. "Woah what did you do to her? She looks like you just ran over her dog."

"Jace. Clary just found out some upsetting news. That sucks about Jordan but…" Then a thought appeared in his head. "Well I think I just found where you could stay Clary."

She looked up, wiping the runny makeup from her eyes.

"Jace Herondale, I would like you to meet Clary Fray. Your new roommate."

As their eyes met, Jace's expression softened. "So you need a place to stay? My apartment is right across from the college if you want to stay there. We can split the rent."

"He is a great guy once you get past the assholeness and his massive ego."

"Shut up Alec you are just jealous of my amazing looks." Jace smirked.

A tiny voice of the broken hearted girl spoke up, "I have no where else to go. Can I please?"

Both men looked at her and the golden one nodded.

Jace stuck his hand out to shake Clary's. "It's a deal, roommate."

 **Okay so shorter chapter this time. I'm not so sure about this one. Oh well!**

 **Tell me what you guys think!**

 **Thank you for reading my story and for being the awesome person you are!**

 **Stay Beautiful.**

 **~ALB**


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N Alas! I am not dead people! And I have finally found the time to write a chapter! So sorry for the wait.**

 **DISCLAIMER: ALL RIGHTS OF THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS BELONG TO THE FANTASTIC CASSANDRA CLARE**

During the whole way back to the apartment, Clary was both trying to get herself together and mentally slapping her face. How could she have been so stupid?! Why did she let her guard down in front of two men who were complete strangers? Let alone agree to live with one. If only she could have held her emotions in then she might have found out more information about the whole ordeal. They could have been lying for goodness sake!

There is only one way to find out. Clary had to confront Simon.

After Clary and Jace shook hands, he gave her everything she needed to get to Jace's place. Clary was a wreck and she was surprised when Jace put a hand on her shoulder. The golden man had asked her if she needed a ride home. She almost said yes but she remembered what her mother told her as a little girl. "Never get in a car with a stranger." Well she never said a dorm!

She pulled into the driveway and sat in the car for about ten minutes planning on how she should go about talking to Simon about the accusations, but came to nothing. It appears that Clary will just have to wing it.

Clary sighed and got out of vehicle. Simon was not in the living room or the kitchen and he wasn't in the bedroom either. He must have gone for a walk as she had the car. On one hand she was happy because it gave her time to investigate and maybe pack, but on the other it meant she would have to wait until he gets home to find out the truth.

Snooping out Simon's belongings felt wrong. At first she decided against it. Privacy is a big thing in relationships and it is also very delicate. But then again...so is trust. And it isn't like Clary has evidence that he ISN'T cheating. She flinched as she thought that although she found herself looking anyways.

There wasn't many places to hide proof of if Simon is really having a sexual relationship with Isabelle. Clary's emerald eyes scanned the room until she saw a lump under her boyfriend's pillow.

It was his cell phone.

Rolling her eyes, the short girl grabbed the phone. Of course the idiot would leave it here instead of just take it with him. _Why would he put it under his pillow if he wasn't hiding something?_

2468\. Clary put that code into the phone which immediately unlocked, showing a background of Luke Skywalker fighting Darth Vader.

Once inside the phone, Clary clicked first to see who Simon had been recently calling. It appears that he had deleted all of his recent calls. Next she went to the text messages only to find that most were deleted too. There was only a couple chats left:his mom, Clary and then a short conversation from Isabelle that had just recently been had.

Isabelle _-Simon when can you come over next? I'm lonely…_

Simon- **Well Clary just left but she has the car sorry babe**

 _That's perfect! I can come over and pick you up! What time will she be back?_

 **I don't know but it's fine she'll probably just think I went for a walk**

 _Leave your phone I don't want anyone to interrupt us_

 **OK 3**

 _On my way 3_

Clary had enough _._ She threw the phone acrossed the room hoping that it would break. Trying not to cry, she grabbed her suitcase and started stuffing clothes and everything else she could get a hold of into it.

She could hardly get it to the car as she was shaking so much. Tears blurred her vision but she refused to let them fall.

For the second time that day, Clary felt like her heart had been crushed into dust. Before she left, she pulled her phone out to send two messages.

To Simon: Don't bother looking for me. I will be back in a week to collect the rest of my belongings. I hope you have fun at "work"

To Jace: I'm coming over now. See you in fifteen minutes


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who followed/favorited and reviewed. It means a lot to me to see the support. The song in this chapter is called "This is Gospel" by Panic! At The Disco.**

 **DISCLAIMER: ALL RIGHTS AND CHARACTERS OF THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS BELONG TO THE FABULOUS CASSANDRA CLARE**

 _This is gospel for the fallen ones_

 _Locked away in permanent slumber_

 _Assembling their philosophies_

 _From pieces of broken memories_

All Clary was thinking as she drove to Jace's apartment was to just pay attention to the road and to just drive. Tears were flooding her eyes and pouring down her face like mini waterfalls. The world passed by her in such a blur that Clary hardly knew where she was anymore.

 _Oh, this is the beat of my heart, this is the beat of my heart_

 _Oh, this is the beat of my heart, this is the beat of my heart_

 _The gnashing teeth and criminal tongues conspire against the odds_

 _But they haven't seen the best of us yet_

Finally realizing the only thing that driving blindly would do is either hurt Clary or someone else, she decided the rational thing to do was pull over to the side of the road till this storm of emotions dispersed. She closed her eyes and rested her head upon the steering wheel. All she could do was let the music flow through her.

 _If you love me let me go_

 _If you love me let me go_

' _Cause these words are knives that often leave scars_

 _The fear of falling apart_

That's what she was doing. Falling apart. Clary Fray had loved Simon Lewis for years only to be betrayed, so why couldn't she just let him go? The answer was simple. She was hurting too much right now.

 _And truth be told I never was yours_

 _The fear, the fear of falling apart_

The vibration of the ginger's cell phone was the cause of her springing up in her seat, shocked. Carefully, Clary hit the answer button without looking to see who it was and brought the device to her ear.

"Hello?" She croaked, her voice sounding almost like an old door opening.

"Clary? Are you okay? It's been over an hour since you texted that you were coming over. Did something happen? Oh and this is Jace Herondale just so you know."

Clary's eyebrows furrowed. Had she really been in the car for that long? Clearing her throat, she replied, "Sorry, I just kind of lost track of time. I was...just driving around I guess. If it's still okay I would like to come over to be your roommate." Her face started heating up a tad. It was weird to her that she felt so comfortable yet so shy with him immediately after just one meeting.

"Yeah, definitely. Come over whenever you'd like. Is something wrong? You sound like you have been crying."

"Um... yeah... It's just...I read through my boyfri-I mean ex boyfriend's text messages and yeah," she took a deep breath, "apparently he is screwing around with some bimbo who is probably so much prettier and more amazing than me in every single way. I just-"

Jace interrupted her before she started putting herself down more, "Hey, that bimbo is my adoptive sister and I can tell you right now that you have ten times the personality than she has. Isabelle likes to ruin everything just so that the attention is on her. Do not beat yourself up over the fact that your ex wasn't strong enough to resist the succubus."

"Thanks. Look I'm headed over now for real this time. I guess I will see you then."

"Yeah, see you."

After Jace hung up, Clary felt a lot lighter than before but couldn't decide if it was either because of his comforting voice of honey or his calming words.

Either way, it gave Clary the nerve to wipe her eyes, blow her nose, and start driving again.

~~~~~~~~~Jace POV~~~~~~~~

Jace Herondale had no idea why this girl was making him feel this way. Even his old roommate Jordan noticed when he got back from the diner. Jordan was packing up the rest of his things when he got home and Jace went around the apartment fixing everything that looked the slightest bit out of place or dusted anything with a single speck of dust. Which was basically nothing because he was such a clean freak there was not a single mess to be seen.

"What on earth has gotten into you?" Jordan exclaimed about five minutes in of Jace entering the living room area.

Jace stopped for a second and wondered the same question. "I don't know. I'm just trying to clean up the place a little. I found a new roommate and she is coming over here soon."

"You have never acted like this around any of your other play things before."

"Clary's...different. I don't understand it but..I'm actually interested in getting to know her. What's happening to me?" He actually looked genuinely worried about it.

Smirking, Jordan ruffled Jace's hair. "I think immature Jacey Wacey is finally growing up!"

Jace scowled but before he could reply his phone beeped.

 **New Message from Clary** : I'm coming over now. See you in fifteen minutes.

His eyes narrowed as he caught Jordan trying to sneak away. " Don't think for a second that when you and Maia break up you can just come back here. I won't miss you!"

"Love you too," The other man said laughing as he took the box in his hands, along with himself, out the door.

 **End of chapter five! I hope you like the little peak into Jace's head to see what's going on, even if it sucks big time oops?**

 **Thank you for being the amazing person you are!**

 **~ALB**


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N Hey guys! What? An update in the same month? Yes! It actually is! So last chapter someone posted a review as a guest saying** " _ **I love your story and you! But usually the update schedule is 1k per week if not more. If you've noticed, writers that update a lot faster have a lot of followers and favs, just saying."**_ **This brings up a few good points that I just wanted to mention.**

 **I would like to apologize for the lack of updates. This is my first story on here and I am still trying to get the hang of it and create a schedule. I could give you a thousand excuses as to why I'm busy, but I know that other more dedicated authors still update even with their events so it would probably sound pathetic. I didn't even know that there was some kind of a schedule, some amazing authors only update once every month or few months. I will try to at least update every one to two weeks with over a thousand words. Hopefully this will make the story more enjoyable for you amazing people!**

 **Another thing I want to do is thank this person for giving me this constructive criticism. They didn't yell at me or insult me, they gave me some helpful tips. Criticism is always welcome to me as long as it's constructive because that is how people grow. So thank you, Guest, for reviewing.**

 **And a HUGE thank you to everyone else who followed, favorited, reviewed and actually read this long author's note. Your continued support is amazing!**

 **DISCLAIMER: ALL RIGHTS AND CHARACTERS BELONG TO THE BRILLIANT CASSANDRA CLARE**

The door was painted a deep shade of blue.

From what could be seen between the opening of the door and the tall **,** handsome, golden man standing next to it, there was a large room with pale white walls. A couch with a silver lamp next to it, coffee table and a small t.v. was sat in the middle of it. Pictures lined the wall opposite to the couch. The first one showed Jace and the man she recognized as Alec Lightwood standing beside a little boy with curly brown hair and glasses. A pang went through her as Simon flashed through her mind only to be pushed deep, deep down.. The one beside it was a man and woman who were holding hands, smiling while the woman's blond hair was blowing in the wind. Her face was so beautiful and the man's was so sharp it wasn't hard to tell they were Jace's biological parents.

That room must've been the living room as a tiny kitchen was connected to it through an open entryway. The cooking area had a medium sized fridge along a very small oven and dishwasher. There wasn't a table, only an island counter with stools around it upon the tile floor. A black microwave was on the island, along with a cup that appeared to be empty.

Jace smiled as he saw the short redhead clutching a bag and her suitcase looking up at him. "Welcome to my humble abode!" He opened his arm in a way of showing off the inside of the apartment and inviting her in.

"Why thank you." Clary felt a tiny smile slowly creep onto her face.

When she walked she noticed three other doors that she couldn't see before.

"That's the bathroom," Jace pointed to the door farthest to the left. "I usually get up at seven o'clock to take a shower and brush my teeth. Is that good with you?"

Clary nodded silently.

"Good. This is my bedroom." Jace motioned to the next door in the middle. From the position Clary was standing at, she could just get a peek into the room. It was shocking to find that everything was so neat.

The walls were the same color as the living room only they were bare with nothing on them. Everything was tucked cleanly into drawers or the closet. Covers were pulled tight on the made bed that looked like a maid from a fancy hotel did it.

Jace walked over and opened the last door. It was an exact replica of the one before, except everything was stripped of the blankets. "Last but not least...your room."

Clary set her things down and took everything in. There was only one question that was burning inside her mind.

"Can I paint the walls?"

"No I'm sorry. I can maybe get you something if you want to draw on though."

Looking gratefully at him she replied, "that would be great, but you don't have to-"

"I insist. I will let you unpack now." He bowed dramatically and backed out of the room leaving Clary with just her thoughts.

It only took about an hour for Clary to put everything exactly where she wanted them. She walked out to the kitchen looking for something to drink. There was a whole shelf full of different drinks in the fridge which was so much more than Clary had back at her old place with...him. Different soda cans, bottles of juice, and milk was sitting right in front of her. She didn't think that she has ever seen this many beverages put together that wasn't at the store.

She was about to get a glass of grape juice only to realize that these were Jace's drinks and she should probably ask him before using up his things. If only he were here. Clary checked the living room, bathroom and his room. He was nowhere to be found.

Clary didn't even hear him come in yet as she sat there gazing at the drinks Jace came up next to her and said, "Yeah, I didn't know what you would like so I just bought a bunch." The short girl jumped so high in surprise that she almost reached Jace's height.

He grinned, "Scared?"

"No just wondering how you could be so quiet."

Clary wasn't sure if it was because he just frightened her or if it was because of their close proximity but her heart was racing a mile a minute.

"I got something for your room if you want it. If not, then I can return no big deal." Confused, she walked through the way and immediately saw a chalkboard the size of a small wall.

She grinned and told him it was perfect. Two hours, 40 minutes and four glasses of juice/soda later, they finally got the blackboard installed on the wall that used to be so bare Clary cringed every time she saw it. Rainbow and neon chalk came along with it. She was going to have so much fun doodling on it. When Clary asked Jace why or how he was paying for it, he just replied with "it's a moving in gift" and mumbling about birthday money, making her feel incredibly guilty but Jace assured the emerald eyed girl by using his aureate eyes that it was perfectly fine.

By the time it was finished, both said Goodnight to each other hobbling to their beds with droopy eyes.

During the duration of being with Jace, the name Simon Lewis didn't cross her mind once. And neither did a frown cross her face.

Let's just hope it stays that way.

 **Thank you guys for reading! I really appreciate every single one of you. You inspire me to keep writing.**

 **Next chapter, we might be having a little visit by someone we aren't so happy with right now…**

 **Keep being the amazing person you are!**

 **~ALB**


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N Wow! I got so many positive responses to last chapter! Thank you soooo much! I get really happy whenever I see a follow or a favorite, and it makes writing this story worth it to know you guys are enjoying it. Every single one of you are seriously amazing.**

 **I want to also give a big thank you to** **Madi Nightraven,** **jordanyokva** **,** **Debra Williams** **,** **ThatOneLife** **,** **, Page1of365** **,** **newt-scamanderp** **,** **cheshire15** **, and** **ultranahshedidnt** **for reviewing this story. Your reviews keep me motivated and help me want to update faster.**

 **Also, school is coming up in a few weeks for me so I don't know how often I will be able to update. I will try to do it as often as I can, but this year I am taking some rigorous courses that are going to take a lot of effort.**

 **But you people probably don't want to hear about that stuff, right? Alright! On to the story!**

 **DISCLAIMER: THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS' CHARACTERS AND RIGHTS BELONG TO A PERFECT AUTHOR NAMED CASSANDRA CLARE**

 **~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~STORY TIME~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Clary Fray had always been the artistic type. During gym class in middle school, she realized how drastically unathletic she was. It wasn't because she was clumsy per say, just not very graceful in using her feet. No, Clary was much more nimble with her hands and fingers. In fact, she was so bad that whenever they played a sports game and had to include the whole class, she would escape to the art room with her favorite teacher, Miss Madeleine.

After getting hit in the face repeatedly with a dodge ball which caused the team she was playing with to lose miserably, she went to the teacher who was refereeing the game with the proposal. Clary would stay out of the activity and would not interfere as long as she received a decent grade while being supervised by the art teacher. The gym teacher, Ms. Brown, was very competitive and didn't like it when people disturbed the games. Ms. Brown reluctantly agreed to her plan, although Clary had a hunch that she did it because of her secret crush on Miss Madeleine.

Miss Madeleine was not just an instructor to Clary, but a friend. They would discuss what was on their mind freely knowing that they would feel better about it after.

All through high school, Clary would visit the middle school art room and teacher to impress Miss Madeleine with her skills once more.

Doing this allowed her to try and cope with what happened in the beginning of freshman year of high school.

The Morgenstern family has never been a close one. Jocelyn Fairchild married Valentine Morgenstern at the age of 18 which was probably one of the biggest mistakes of her life. Even after their marriage Jocelyn kept her maiden name of Fairchild. After going into college at age 20, Valentine became one of the most ruthless lawyers by the age of 29. The only person he was relatively kind to was his wife, who made an income from selling her paintings.

When Jocelyn announced that she was pregnant for the first time, both she and her husband were very happy. She had a baby boy nine months later and they named him Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern. He was almost a carbon copy of his father except with the bone structure similar to his mother.

After almost five years later, Jocelyn got pregnant again. Jonathan was already taking a toll on her as Valentine was so busy all the time working to help with him. So you can imagine the fear and worry she experienced when she gave birth to a beautiful red headed baby girl who was named Clarissa Adele Fray.

Valentine wasn't even there for the baby's birth because he was "working a case".

Jocelyn soon fell into a depression six years after that. She blatantly ignored everyone in the house except to make the children dinner on the occasion. Valentine stayed cooped up in his office and when he came out, it was because he had a complaint. None of the children were good enough for him so he was constantly yelling at them. To this day, they haven't gotten a divorce.

Jonathan basically had to raise him and Clary by himself. This caused them to grow very close which was why it hit Clary so hard to home when he left without a goodbye after his graduation of senior year and never came back.

Miss Madeleine was like a free counselor for the hurt girl. She was the reason that Clary stuck with art instead of just giving up immediately.

And that is the story of how Clary decided six years later at 7 o'clock in the morning on a Sunday to decorate her brand new chalkboard.

Many, many colors and designs later, the board, as well as her hands, was covered in the rainbow dust of chalk. Satisfied with her work, Clary left the comfort of her room to go eat breakfast.

"Good morning," Clary practically sang as she caught sight of the golden hair of Jace reflecting the sunlight.

Jace turned to look at her from his seat on the couch. "Hello. Didn't realize you were such a morning bird.'

"Don't get used to it," she laughed a bit feeling as if she has lived with Jace for more than one day now, "I'm definitely not a morning person when it's 5 am and I have to get ready for school before I get my daily dose of coffee. I'm just happy I got to create some art." Well that was part of the reason. The other part was that she woke up from a nightmare at four in the morning and couldn't go back to sleep so she drank her disgusting bag of instant coffee. "I'm going to get some caffeine in me along with a donut. Want anything?"

"Um...no thanks I already had breakfast."

"Alrighty. I'll be back."

"See ya."

After a quick run to Dunkin' Donuts, Clary came into the living room of the apartment, finding Jace in the exact position he was before she left. She collapsed on the opposite side of the couch and looked to see what Jace was watching on the television. It appeared to be some sort of soap opera.

"What are you watching?"

"It's called "Fire and Ice". The description of it is "an exciting adventure as we dive into the unique relationship between Arnesto and Armeto as they go through the dramatic" blah blah blah…"

Clary looked at Jace as if he had just grown another head, but before she could say anything he said, "Don't judge me! I don't get good channels that play during morning. This is all that's on."

She just rolled her eyes and when she went to reply, _again_ she was interrupted, only this time it was by a knock on the door. Jace got up with eyebrows furrowed and went to go answer the door. It wasn't hard to tell by his expression that he wasn't expecting anyone currently. Right as he made it past the sofa, the door burst open and a woman in all black, very tight clothing and raven hair strolled in with her hands on her hips.

Many emotions flashed across Jace's face, starting with surprise, then confusion and finally blunt anger.

"And just _what_ do you think you are doing just barging into _my_ apartment?" Clary watched behind the couch, shrinking down as she heard his tone. He almost sounded murderous, eyes flashing.

The woman flipped a lock of her shiny hair away from her face and looked around the room with an uninterested expression, "Well hello to you too brother."

Clary's eyes flew open even wider as the pieces were trying to connect themselves in her mind. Jace only had adopted siblings…

"You are not welcome here after you tried to get Maryse and Robert to abandon me as a teenager. Oh and then there was that one time where you tried to convince Alec that I was the one who told your parents about his sexuality when it was you. So no _Isabelle._ You shouldn't even be here, much less be deserving of a hello."

A silent gasp fell off Clary's lips and she wondered why this girl hasn't spotted her yet. It was the only time she was grateful of her height. This was the Isabelle. Isabelle Lightwood. Jace's adopted sibling. Simon's other woman. The reason she was broken.

"Oh technicalities," Isabelle glanced to the ceiling, "listen I need a favor."

"Why the hell would you think I would do something for you." Jace was exasperated.

"Because I will do anything you want in return."

He thought for a moment. "Will you get out and stay out of my life forever? And stop bugging Alec about Magnus?" Clary couldn't believe he would actually do something for this terrible woman.

Smirking, Isabelle replied, "I will."

"Tell me what you want, but I make no promises." At least he had the decency to look suspicious.

"So I've been seeing this man for a while now and I think I have feelings deeper that just having him as a boy-toy. The thing is...he has this awful girlfriend that he thinks he loves, but it's so clear that he loves me. I need you to get with her to show Simon that she is over him and not the little innocent girl he thinks she is, then you can just break her heart or whatever you want. It'll only be the one night. I'll take him to a club and you can-"

Clary's face was getting redder and the tears were in her eyes again from the wound that was in her heart that had the scab of forgetting being torn off by Isabelle. How could someone be so ruthless?

Jace raised his voice so loud that Clary flinched when she heard it, "Are you insane?! What is wrong with you? I would never do that to her!"

Isabelle crossed her arms. "Why? You do it all the time. Screw the girl then ditch the girl. That's your style."

His jaw was clenched along with his fists. "That was in the past. Now, get out of my apartment."

"What happened to you Jace? You used to be cool." That was when Clary's sob caught the attention of the tall woman making Clary look like a deer in headlights. "Who's thi...Clarissa?" She stared at her for a second then turned on the Jace. "Harbouring bitches who leave their boyfriend with no excuse now Jace? I never thought so low of you."

"That's enough Isabelle! If you don't leave right now, then I will make you leave."

Isabelle held her hands up in mock surrender. "Fine. Have fun." She strutted out of the place and into the hallway, slamming the door.

The anger drained right out of him as he turned and saw Clary curled up in a ball glaring at the closed door. "Clary." He slowly walked towards her with his hand stretching out towards her.

She sniffed and straightened herself out into a standing position. "I want to be alone," she said, glaring at her feet, "I'll be in my room."

Jace just watched her run away, feeling as useless as ever.

Clary slid down her door and put her head in her hands, breathing very heavily. She let the sadness overcome her. She didn't want to fight it anymore.

 **And done with chapter seven! Thank you guys so much for reading this story!**

 **I had to do a little background information in the beginning to help set up the characters a little bit so I hope you guys don't mind.**

 **This might be the largest chapter of this story yet!**

 **Keep being the amazing person you are!**

 **~ALB**


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N Hello again! Thank you all for reviewing, favoriting, and following. It really means so much to me that people actually are interested in what I write and it makes me feel good.**

 **You all are such amazing people. Seriously, don't stop being yourself!**

 **DISCLAIMER: EVERYTHING FROM THE** _ **MORTAL INSTRUMENTS**_ **BELONGS TO THE EXTREMELY TALENTED AUTHOR, CASSANDRA CLARE**

 **~~~~~~~~~STORY TIME~~~~~~~~~**

 _Beep_

 _Beep_

 _Beep_

The blaring alarm clock was the only reason Clary Fray pried open her eyes that had been glued shut with the tears she had been releasing all night-even in her sleep. The first thing she saw was the pale white ceiling about eight feet above her. Realizing that the blasted alarm clock wouldn't shut up by itself, she slammed her hand on it until she hit the stop button.

Clary thought about taking a sick day as she arose from the comfort of her blankets, feeling nauseated at the remembrance of last night, but she couldn't miss a single day of college without missing three projects, one essay and four tests.

So overall, it meant she couldn't afford to miss a day just for something as stupid as her emotions.

The frizzy red hair on Clary's head was very messy and kept tickling her face so she grabbed her towel and ran into the bathroom. During her little trip she took notice that Jace wasn't up yet. She turned on the shower and quickly jumped into the nice warm water, doing everything that needed to be done.

When she was finally finished with washing herself, she dried off and went into her room to figure out what she was going to wear that day.

Clary had completely forgotten that all she had was a small suitcase with only four shirts and three pairs of jeans that were randomly thrown in. She decided to put on the black pair along with a plain dark purple tank top. She brushed her hair into a tight ponytail and put a tad bit of mascara on lightly. Simon went to the same school as her so if she saw him, Clary wanted to look her best to prove to him she was stronger than he thought she was. Even if it was only just a facade.

By the time Clary walked out of her new room for the second time that day, Jace had just closed the door to the bathroom. _Jace has done so much for me,_ Clary thought to herself. _The least I can do is make him coffee and a bagel. Especially after what had happened the evening before._ A blush started making it's way up her face as Clary remembered how Jace stood up for her in front of the infamous Isabelle Lightwood. She nodded and headed to the kitchen to start the coffee.

She grabbed two plain bagels from the batch she bought yesterday from Dunkin' Donuts to put them in the white toaster.

A while later the breakfast was almost completed save for the bagels, which were practically begging to have something put on them to be eaten. Clary was about to put cream cheese on Jace's and her bagels only to come to the realization that she doesn't know what he likes on it. In fact, Clary hardly knows anything about Jace Herondale and she lives with him! She made a mental note to ask him about himself later on.

Jace gracefully walked out of the bathroom, fully clothed in jeans and a t-shirt that hugged very close to his body. Clary could just make out the toned biceps in his arms and his abs that would be amazing to-she snapped herself out of the daze she was in before Jace caught her staring.

She cleared her throat and held out a cup of coffee to the golden boy. "I made breakfast! Except you are going to have to spread whatever you want on your bagel."

He looked so surprised that Clary wondered if she had stepped over the line. She did use his coffee machine without asking. Worry started to pool in the bottom of her stomach only to disappear when a grin slowly started to spread on Jace's face.

"Thank you. I didn't know you were a gourmet chef! You didn't poison it, did you?"

Clary rolled her eyes but smiled anyways. "I guess you will just have to eat it to find out."

Jace narrowed his eyes playfully and made to grab the cream cheese out of her hand. Their hands brushed for a split second, causing a shock to run up Clary's hand, almost dropping the tub.

It wasn't like a static electricity shock, but something that felt really nice, leaving Clary wanting to touch him again.

And touch him again Clary didn't. Instead, she looked down, shielding her eyes from Jace's.

She could feel his gaze boring holes into her head, trying to get Clary to meet his eyes. She finally complied and knew in an instant that Jace had felt the shock too. Her face burned as Jace broke the stare to grab the tub of cheese.

An awkward silence fell across them.

Jace decided to break it with, "So what's your first class?"

"I have Art History first and then Psychology. I probably won't be back until around five because I work at the library Monday, Wednesday and Friday," Clary replied, relieved that the awkward moment was over.

"There's a library at LIU?"

Clary looked at him. "You didn't know there was a library at a _college?_ "

He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, remaining quiet. Noticing that he isn't going to say anything soon Clary stepped in, "You should check it out sometime. It's pretty big and has tons of different genres of books. Do you like reading?"

"Yes," confidence flashed on his face, "I think I shall check it out after class. How does two thirty sound?" Jace pursed his lips and then reworded the question. "I mean will you be there? At that time. I wouldn't want to go there alone or get lost in it."

Her expression brightened a large amount. "Of course you can come then. That's the perfect time. See you then?"

Jace looked at his watch, then back up at her.

"Yeah. I have to go." He picked up his bag that was by the door. "See you then, Clary."

She couldn't stop smiling into her coffee for the rest of the morning.

O.o.O.o.O.

Four classes later, Clary was sitting behind the little desk in the library, drawing to pass the time before someone walks in to check out a book. The other worker was busy putting books on the shelves which was a big job considering this place had over a hundred shelves.

Every couple minutes she would look at the clock. Clary didn't understand why she was so excited that Jace was coming, but maybe it was that she finally had a person who she could hang out with that wouldn't leave her just after getting to know her. Clary was never a people person. Instead, she liked hanging out with one friend or alone. But that didn't mean she only wanted one friend.

Simon had only been her only real friend after they got serious because Maia had an extreme disliking of the Lewis. Looking back on it now, Clary should have listened to her from the beginning.

The bell on the library door chimed-indicating that someone had come inside. Clary looked up in time to find a flash of gold duck behind a bookshelf.

She smirked a bit as his head of curls peeked out from the shelf. "I see you there, Jace."

Sighing, he came out looking disappointed. "I have failed. I can't believe that I couldn't even scare you. What hope do I have for that haunted house gig that I have in a few weeks?"

Clary playfully shoved his shoulder, this time ignoring the tiny spark between them.

"So this is what our library looks like. I didn't think it would be this humongous."

"Yeah, I think it's really awesome that people have put so much time and effort for books. I mean nowadays most people don't read books that aren't electronic or picture books. All kids want to do these days is go on the internet or watch a movie. But movies force you to see everything from the characters to the set in the director's point of view. In books, everyone imagines the story completely different. That's what I love about reading."

"You are so interesting Clary Fray. I never thought about reading that way, but I guess you are right."

The ginger's face turned as red as her hair as she shook her head, "I don't know, it seems stupid saying it out loud."

"No no!" Jace set his hand on hers briefly which did not help her burning face at all. "I think it's really thoughtful."

Out of the blue, Clary recalled her earlier thinking of not knowing Jace very well.

"Hey so I'm probably going to be living with you for a while and you've been so kind to me but I hardly know you. For all I know, you could go around and murder people." She added as an afterthought, "No offense."

"None taken. I only do it on Sundays, though so I can have an alibi." He laughed at her expression. "Don't worry, I'm kidding. But yeah, I would really like to get to know you better."

"How about we go down to the little Cafe on Fourths Street for breakfast on Thursday before class?" Clary asked a bit hesitantly. She didn't want to overstep her boundaries by making him think it's a date or something. No, she wasn't ready to date. Maybe she should make that clear. "Ya know, maybe become better friends."

His face fell for half a moment and then went back to its bright look. "That would be cool. I-"

Clary jumped over her chair and sprinted into the closet, hoping she wasn't seen. The door slammed behind her as she slid down the wall across from it. After a little while, there were a few knocks before the door slowly creaked open, revealing a very confused Jace. "Um…"

"SHHHH!" She yanked Jace by the sleeve to pull him down next to her. They were practically squished into one person.

Jace was about to ask what was going on when he saw Clary close her eyes tight.

"He's here."

"Who's here?"

…

"Simon. Simon Lewis."

 **Dun Dun Dun…**

 **And there's the end of chapter 8! I honestly don't know how long this story will be but I do have a few things planned out that I want to happen.**

 **So tell me what you think about this chapter! Please?**

 **ALSO! To everyone who writes their own stories or fanfiction: you are so amazing. I mean,** _ **everyone**_ **is amazing, don't get me wrong, but writing this story has taught me a lot of things.**

 **It's not easy transferring all of your thoughts and ideas for a story into words on a screen. It takes a lot of time and effort to keep up with a story. And it takes a lot of guts to post your work on the internet for people to judge too. So I applaud all of you who continuously do this for us.**

 **Wow that made me seem a bit self centered! I swear I didn't mean it to come off as me trying to make me sound like a great person because honestly, I suck.**

 **Thank all of you for reading, following, favoriting and reviewing!**

 **Keep being the amazing person you are!**

 **~ALB**


	10. Chapter 9

**A/N I can't tell you how happy I am right now. I never thought this story would get very far, but you guys are the reason I'm so excited to write more chapters. Every review or follow or favorite encourages me to continue.**

 **I'm very sorry, I would have had this chapter out a lot earlier, but I was experiencing some computer troubles so I couldn't finish it until now.**

 **Thank you everyone who followed, favorited and reviewed!**

 **DISCLAIMER: ALL RIGHTS TO THE** _ **MORTAL INSTRUMENTS**_ **BELONG TO THE OUTSTANDING CASSANDRA CLARE**

 **~~~~~~~~~~STORY TIME~~~~~~~~~~**

"Hello?"

Clary stared at Jace with wide eyes. She couldn't go out there and see her sort of an ex boyfriend who smashed her heart into a million tiny pieces. If she did, she might break down or worse-listen to what he had to say and forgive him.

 _No._

Clary Fray would never forgive the deceitful bastard for he had done to her. Even if he gave her his stupid puppy dog eyes. She couldn't.

Jace looked at her, waiting for her to make the first move. Inside her head, Clary was forming an escape plan which involved throwing a stapler at him and running out the back door while he was distracted.

She sighed very quietly, knowing that plan had too many flaws to work. "I don't know what to do," Clary whispered. "He knows I'm here somewhere if he saw our-my car so he won't stop looking."

The amber eyes that Clary was gazing desperately into in the hopes of them explaining what they should do in this particular situation started blazing like fire. It was a look of both outrage and exasperation. " _He_ should be the one hiding for what he did, that despicable assho-"

"SHHH," Clary grabbed his arm again in an attempt to calm and quiet the practically shouting man.

He nodded, "All I'm saying is that he should be sitting in a corner sobbing at the fact that he lost such an amazing person as you." Jace looked so sincere that she wanted to hug him, but she restrained herself.

"I heard someone back there! Clary? Please come out, I just want to talk."

Jace peaked out the closet just a smidgen and quirked an eyebrow. "His face looks like a rat."

Clary laughed abruptly, then slapped a hand over her mouth.

Her smile faded very fast as the next words that came out of Jace's mouth.

"I'm going to go out there to talk to him. Give him a little piece of my mind." Before she could react Jace stood up and briskly walked into the front room.

Clary was horrified, but couldn't force herself to go out there to stop him. Instead, she watched silently out the door, biting her nails in nervousness of the reactions of both boys could be.

Jace stood tall with his arms folded tightly to his chest as he walked into the rat boy's point of view. He couldn't help but glare at the boy who didn't look as terrible as he should be feeling. _Why would two girls even like him?_ Jace wondered to himself. _His rodent like features make him a bit repulsive and if he has the nerve to cheat on someone who could give him everything, his personality must be pretty awful too._

 __Rat boy cleared his throat and began to speak, "Who are you? Where's Clary? I demand to speak with her right now."

"You aren't in the position to be making demands, Sherman," Jace responded, trying to keep his anger at bay.

"First of all, my name is _Simon,_ you idiot. Second of all, Of course I have a right to talk to my girlfriend! I want to apologize to her. Anyways, Clary took my car and left me with nothing and I at least deserve an explanation of where she is."

Jace's golden eyebrows almost rose off of his forehead in exasperation. "You're kidding me, right?! I don't give a crap about your disgrace of a name. And she's your EX girlfriend if you can't get that through your thick head to your almost nonexistent brain. You deserve nothing."

"Who are you to talk?" Simon questioned. "What do you even know about this situation? Do you even know who Clary Fray is?"

"Yes I do. In fact, I probably know more about her than you considering you thought she would just take you back when you already severed her trust deeply. I am the friend who let her move into my apartment because I am a good person." He paused. Now would be the time he would normally be smirking, but this wasn't the time and he wasn't in the mood. "Unlike you."

"Oh I get it. So to get back at me she just found the first guy she saw who just happened to be some dyed blond wannabe model who could distract her and then try to get me back. I knew she do something like this. What a stupid-"

That's what finally brought Jace's anger over the top. He was outraged, "You shut your damn mouth you insufferable good for nothing twat! Is your ass jealous of all the crap that just came out of your mouth? You don't get to call anyone that, much, much less Clary Fray, who is so kind and innocent she deserves so much better than you! But no, you think that it is okay to break people's hearts and then leave them to wallow in their misery. But you can't destroy someone as strong as her. Your life is going to be so incomplete that you are going to die with so many mistakes following behind you. Rot in hell, douchebag. You already screwed yourself over."

Simon balled his fists at his sides. Jace knew immediately what he was going to do by the way his eye twitched and his hands were shaking so much you would have thought an earthquake was happening.

Right as Simon's arm came flying at the taller man, Jace met his fist with the inside of his hand, catching the attempted punch. Simon's expression was priceless with the amount of surprise on it. He almost laughed out loud as he inspected the brown haired boy's form. He had his thumb inside his fist, which meant that Jace just saved the idiot from breaking it. Although this didn't stop him from teaching him a lesson on who to pick on. Jace twisted his arm and flung the prick's hand back at him. Then, he punched him square in the jaw.

Unfortunately, it wasn't as hard as he could have or Simon deserved, but that would have probably broken his jaw. At least this would leave quit the mark.

The Lewis stood there shocked for a second before storming out of the building, huffing and stomping like a toddler who didn't get his way.

Clary couldn't believe what she had just seen. Jace defended her. From Simon. Her ex boyfriend who was insulting her behind what he thought was her back that was just actually a wall. _Did that seriously just happen?_

She scrambled out of her hiding spot and to Jace. The confusion, along with that tiny fluttering in her chest that she pushed away, was enough to keep the supposed to be incoming tears at bay.

"I'm sorry it went down like that Clary."

Clary looked into his eyes and saw that he wasn't looking at her, but looking down in shame. "Don't be sorry." She touched his arm gently, "Thank you for defending me. You could have gotten hurt, though."

Jace's face formed something between a half smirk and a half smile. He looked up into her emerald green eyes. "I'll always be happy to defend a beautiful lady's honor. Besides, he would've hurt himself more than he would've me."

The 'beautiful' comment made her cheeks flush although she ignored it. Before she could speak, Clary's stomach growled.

Jace grinned and went over to his backpack, which was hidden from behind a shelf from when he tried to scare her. He pulled out an apple and two cheese sandwiches. "I know we aren't supposed to eat in here, but maybe this time you can make an exception?"

"Okay, just this time. You better hope my boss doesn't show up."

 **SO this took forever to write because my computer keeps glitching out. Tis why it's a little shorter than normal. Also, school had started to….yaaaay….**

 **I hope you guys like it!**

 **Jace is so cute defending Clary and all…**

 **Love each and every one of you!**

 **Keep being the amazing person you are!**

 **~ALB**


	11. Chapter 10

**A/N Hello again beautiful people! I am back with a new chapter, (THE TENTH CHAPTER WOW I ACTUALLY FOLLOWED THROUGH WITH THIS) trying to keep up with my two week schedule plan! Obviously, or else this wouldn't be named Chapter 10 and it would be named AN AUTHOR'S NOTE FOR YOU PERFECT PEOPLE.**

 **Yeah so anyways thank you all for reviewing/following/favoriting/being awesome etc.**

 **Eh does anyone even read these author notes? Or do you all just skip it to the story? Basically I could put anything in here. I LOOOOOOOOOOVE TMIIIIIIIII! Not too crazy, just in case anyone reads this.**

 **DISCLAIMER:ALL RIGHTS TO** _ **THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS**_ **BELONG TO THE TREMENDOUS MISS CASSANDRA CLARE**

 **~~~~~~~~~~STORY TIME~~~~~~~~~~**

For the next few days, Clary and Jace just laid low and didn't see much of each other. Jace was in and out, hanging out with Alec or helping his old roommate settle in with his girlfriend. Admittedly, the only reason he was doing it was because Jordan was paying him hourly and not because he wanted to see him and Maia make out every couple of minutes.

Clary, on the other hand, went to school early to avoid any situation that would end up with her bumping into Simon. She worked at the library an extra day because her co worker had gotten food poisoning and there wasn't many people willing to work there. Some people didn't even know that there was one there. **Cough** _Jace_ **Cough.** When Clary got home, she would normally eat a quick dinner before studying for the huge midterm she has in Art History. Clary was so stressed out about it as it is worth a forth of her grade.

Finally, the test was over after Wednesday's class and she felt she did pretty good on it.

Thursday rolled around just quickly enough. Clary woke up and got ready, putting her last outfit on, which happened to be the one that she had been saving because it looked the nicest. As she floated around her room, Clary couldn't help but notice the stupid fluttering in her stomach again. Getting upset with herself, she decided to open the window for some fresh air.

A little while later, there was a knock on her door and Jace's voice came through asking if she was ready to go to breakfast. Clary looked at the digital clock on her dresser, not realizing it was almost eight. She ran a brush through her coppery red hair and opened the door to meet Jace's smiling face.

Jace made a motion with his arm outwards away from her. "Lady's first."

"Morning," Clary breathed, looking at the ground to avoid staring at Jace's trim hair that looked better than it normally did, which was saying something big considering he looked perfect everyday.

"Alright, I'll drive and then I can just drop you off at school. Is that okay? What time do you need to be picked up?"

"Um...I'm not sure. Seriously, though, you don't need to do waste gas on me." Clary and Jace started walking to the front door. Clary went to pick up her bag, but Jace beat her to it and slung it over his bag with a smirk on his face. She just rolled her eyes, letting her hair fall in front of her face to shield her smile.

"Tis not a problem. And it wouldn't be wasting gas. It would be putting my car to good use. Poor Fernando doesn't get around much and he is feeling tragically, heartbreakingly sorrowful!" Jace put the back of his hand on his forehead to increase the dramatic role he was playing.

Clary laughed, "Fine. Only for the sake of Fernando. I'll text you when I get off."

"Great! Let's go."

Java Jones was only 10 minutes away from the apartment which was very convenient for the kids near the college and the Cafe because they get all of the people who need the coffee to survive the day.

Jace held the door open for her as the two got there. Clary was starting to get a little worried. Isn't this what men do for girls on dates to try to impress them with their politeness? Not that she would know a great deal of romance, only the stories that she read on the less busy days of work. Simon was sort of a gentleman in a nerdy kind of way in the beginning. There was so many messed up things in that relationship that Clary couldn't believe she had let slip by.

If someone doesn't treat you right, don't let them into your heart. Don't let them get away with dictating your life.

Clary hadn't realized she was zoning out until a golden tan skinned hand waved in front of her face and felt the high chair hit her butt underneath her.

"...want to drink? Clary? Claaaaaaaary. Earth to Fray! What do you want? I'm about to go order."

"Don't call me that," she snapped without thinking. "I...Sorry it's just...nevermind. Anyways I'll just take a coffee."

"How many sugars?"

Clary's expression turned playfully grim. "Black. Like my soul."

Jace's eyes widened fractionally, then nodded and went to go put in the orders.

A quiet laugh shook the frail girl as she watched him get undressed by girls' stares.

The girl at the counter had blonde hair that had obviously been dyed. Makeup was caked on her face and her shirt was so small it could hardly contain her breast. She was chewing on gum, slouched over the counter, but when her eyes caught Jace coming towards her, she straightened up and pulled her poor shirt down even more. A hand went to a lock of hair to twirl it as she took his order (read;flirted with him).

Clary couldn't see his expression, but the barista's face was priceless when Jace handed back the paper she just scribbled on and gave him which probably contained her number.

When he came back, she looked at him questionably, "So why didn't you take blonde's crumpled napkin over there? Fake people aren't really your style, eh?"

"I'm interested in someone else." Clary was surprised at the quietness of his voice.

"Ohhhhhhh Jacey Wacey has a little crush? Who is she? Does she go to our school?" Even though she playfully nudged him with her elbow, she found herself genuinely wanting to know.

"Yeah she's just some girl I know. Doesn't matter." He was avoiding her gaze.

"Yes it does! If my friend likes someone, then he should definitely ask her out. What is she like?"

Jace took a breath before saying anything. "She's beautiful, kind, smart, talented, and so strong. She really is quite remarkable.

Clary's heart sank to the bottom of the ocean floor. Well that ruled her out as she wasn't any of those things. Wait, why would she even put herself into the pool when it was clear that they were just friends? "I'm sure she is," she murmured.

An awkward silence filled the air, only for a moment as someone from the back dropped a bunch of pans, which brought them to both talk at once.

"So tell me about-"

"How is school-"

They both stopped and laughed at each other, breaking the heavy tension.

"You go first," Jace said.

"Well I was going to ask about you. Tell me about yourself."

He shrugged. "There isn't much. What do you want to know?"

Clary looked thoughtful for a moment, "Tell me about your family. About your likes and dislikes. We came here to get to know each other didn't we?" She took a sip of her coffee and pretended that she hadn't just burned her mouth as she set the mug down.

"Hmm. I guess you are right."

"Always am."

"So my family," he ignored her. "When I was ten my parents, Celine and Stephen Herondale, were murdered in front of me while I hid under the bed like a coward."

She gasped and put her hand on his arm gently. "You are not a coward. You were a kid. You can't blame yourself for protecting yourself. Had you gone out to fight you would have been killed too. I'm glad that you are here right now. I'm sorry for your loss."

"Yeah well that was years ago. I'm over it." But by the look on his face, he wasn't. "Anyways I moved in with the Lightwoods because they were apparently my godparents-at least that was what was written in their will. Once I got into their mansion of a house, Isabelle immediately had a hatred for me. She thought I was taking over her life." Cue the eye roll. "Alec and I became great friends. Maryse and Robert didn't talk much, they ended up divorcing. Robert moved across the country and took Max with him. I haven't seen my little brother in years."

"Jace…" She could feel every emotion pouring out of him.

"Don't. I'm fine. I don't know why I said all of that. I haven't really talked about it to anyone. We write letters to each other in case you wanted to know. I really miss him. That's why I wanted to stay in this apartment, Max knows the address by heart and it would be a hassle to get a new one. Anyways, tell me about you."

Clary could tell he was done talking about it, so she returned the favor in telling him her life story. About how Valentine and Jocelyn fell in love and then out of it. How Jonathan abandoned her. How she took comfort in art and Simon. How wrong she had been.

After life stories, came the fun stuff. By the time it was time for school, they both had tears in their eyes from laughing so hard and it felt like they knew one another like the back of their hand. Not that close, but it was nice to finally get to know the other.

Jace dropped Clary off by her classroom and they had a quick farewell. On the way to his class, Jace kept trying to think of a person he had opened up to so quickly like he had Clary.

But he couldn't think of a single one.

In fact, he couldn't think of anyone he had bared his soul to like that.

 **Okay, I'm super surprised I got this done on time. School is kicking my butt.**

 **Anywho I hope you guys liked it!**

 **Sorry if it was a tad boring and/or a disaster**

 **Until next time you freaking great people**

 **Keep being the amazing person you are!**

 **~ALB**


	12. Chapter 11

**A/N Happy Friday! Thank you all so so much for your follows, favorites and reviews. Thank you guys for giving this story a chance and reading, I wouldn't have had the nerve to post anything without your support.**

 **UPDATE IS A DAY EARLY WHAAAAAA**

 **Hah not an extreme difference I just wanted to post this because I won't have much time this weekend.**

 **DISCLAIMER: ALL RIGHTS TO THE AMAZING BOOK SERIES** _ **THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS**_ **BELONG TO THE SUPERB CASSANDRA CLARE**

 **~~~~~~~~~~~STORY TIME~~~~~~~~~~**

The morning after the little 'getting to know you' coffee, Clary woke up later than usual.

The night before distracted her, as she and Jace watched a movie-they probably could have sat a smidgen farther away from each other, but neither of them decided to move from their position of arms brushing once in awhile-and ate popcorn. It was a Disney film that had been playing on the television and was too cute stop watching to go to sleep.

By the time Clary had gotten to bed, her mind couldn't stop thinking. About Jace. About Jon and her past. They used to watch movies on the nights when they couldn't sleep while their parents were in bed. It was a tradition. It was a time where both siblings were very happy.

The ginger had slept through her alarm and only got up when a gust of wind blew her curtain, leaving the sun glaring into her face.

She jumped into the shower super quickly and came out only to remember the reason she had been so worried yesterday. Clary was supposed to swing by her old apartment to get the rest of her things while Simon got together with his study group, who actually play video games more than completing school work.

But she had forgotten because Jace had picked her up from school instead of her driving.

It's not like she can just waltz into school shirtless.

That's how she found herself in nothing but a small towel at Jace's bedroom door. The humiliation made her cheeks burn with a fiery blush, wishing she hadn't let the fact that she had no clean shirt and only one pair of pants left which happen to be baggy old jeans.

When Jace opened the door, he was also shirtless, except he wasn't clad in a towel, rather low hanging sweat pants. His face was priceless as he took in the shivering girl in front of him. "C-Clary what are you..?"

Huffing, she replied, "I forgot to pick up the rest of my stuff from my old place so I don't have a shirt to wear…" Clary let the sentence drag out, hoping that he would pick up what she was laying down.

"Oh. _Oh._ Um, yeah," he opened the door wide, "come on in." Jace yanked a dresser drawer out and started rustling through it. Standing there awkwardly, the green eyed girl patiently watched the golden boy shuffle through different colored shirts. Finally, he pulled one out and handed it to her. Unconsciously, he rubbed the back of his neck in habit. "Uh, sorry this is the smallest thing I have."

"Thank you so much. I'm sorry, I will get my clothes today, I promise."

"Don't worry about it. It's not a problem."

Clary went back to her room to change.

 _ **oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**_

Apparently, Jace's smallest shirt wasn't so small after all. In fact, it hung very loosely off of her body that she dorfed it in size. It was long sleeved and had a very soft fabric. The grey shirt had green writing on it that made her eyes stand out more than she had ever seen. It hung to her knees, which almost fully covered her awful pants.

When Clary came out of her room, she walked into the kitchen to find Jace making coffee. He handed her a disposable cup and rushed her out the door to make sure she got to class on time.

But she didn't miss the way Jace's eyes lit up when he saw her in his shirt.

 _ **oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**_

As it was, no one paid any attention to what Clary was wearing. College was much more different from high school since failing a class meant losing thousands of dollars you have to pay or a degree that will take your future. Everyone is too focused on themselves to wonder about something as silly as clothing.

Alas, the moment she had been dreading was rapidly approaching.

As Clary got into her car, she mentally prepared herself for what was to come next. She didn't know what was going to happen. If they were going to scream at each other like the couples in movies do, or if he would even be home. In the event that they did see each other, Clary wasn't sure whether she would cry or be bitter and furious.

To her relief, it appeared that Simon wasn't home because there was no movement or sign of someone in the apartment. Lights were all turned off and the curtains were open.

Without delay, she goes to the door with several boxes in her hands to carry her things, only to find another different lock on top of the old one. _This must have been Isabelle's idea._ Clary rolled her eyes. _Simon isn't intelligent enough to think of something like that up in a few days._

Having thought that, Clary remembered that he is indeed not very smart. Simon forgets his keys all the time, he always has a back up. Under the mat.

There was a brand-new key under the welcome rug when she lifted it up.

Clary slid it into the lock and opened the door.

The place was, to say the least, trashed.

Fast food wrappers were on the table along with some unpaid bills. Isabelle must've moved in considering her makeup and clothing was all over the couch. The mini fridge was left open, revealing half empty glasses of water. Other than that it was bare. Dishes were piled into the sink almost overflowing.

Only then did Clary realize how much she did around the house and for Simon with almost nothing but his "love" for her.

She quickly ran into her old room to hurry before someone returns. Identical to the living room and kitchen, the raven haired girl's things were strewn everywhere. She had to move multiple shirts (if the small fabric could even be called that) and suitcases to gather her things.

Three big boxes and seven little boxes later, Clary had all of her clothing, accessories, toiletries, and all of the dishes she bought with her own money that she earned by herself.

While taking her last box down to her car, another vehicle pulls into the parking spot next to her. It's a dark green Mustang with tinted windows so she could only make out two figures, on with glasses and curly hair, thus indicating that Simon Lewis was here and Clary had to make a break for her car _fast._

Fortunately for her, Simon was just stepping out of the Mustang by the time she had climbed into the car and locked the doors. She caught a glimpse of Simon's face staring directly into her's.

Instead of feeling sadness or anger, all she felt was emptiness.

The scrawny boy tapped on the car window, scaring Clary out of her reverie. The car next to her pulled out of the spot and out of the apartment complex's parking lot. Simon kept knocking on the glass and motioning to open the door. Instead, she rolled down the window a couple inches, just not enough for him to fit his arm through.

"Clary, where have you been?! What the he-"

She rolled the window up to block his voice out. So this was how he wanted to be-immature and ignorant. Well Clary wasn't about to take his stupid crap. Either they would talk like the adults they were or not at all. She rolled down the window an inch, satisfied with the flabbergasted look on his, as Jace put it, rodent like face. "If you want to talk to me it will be in a calm, mature manner or else I am just going to leave. You have no right to yell or be upset with me after the deceitful lies you continuously told." She was shocked at how calmly she had stated that to her ex love.

Simon sighed. "Okay. I won't yell at you if you let me in to talk about everything and to explain."

Clary scrutinized his face to make sure that he wasn't playing a game and that he was telling the came to the conclusion that he was and leaned over to unlock the passenger side door.

His glasses almost fell off of his face when Simon plopped onto the seat. He looked at her for confirmation to speak and said, "Clary...I-I know what this looks like, but...I can explain."

"Oh do tell why my boyfriend of many years decided to cheat on me after telling me he loved me." She tilted her head to the right side. "I'm intrigued to hear the pitiful excuses."

His throat bobbed as he visibly swallowed. "I never meant it to go far at all. It's just...well you said you wanted to wait for you to know if I was the right guy to take your...ya'know. I'm a man, Clary! I have needs too." She could fit the pieces together.

"You did not just say that."

"Anyways...things progressed quicker than I thought. It was supposed to be just a once, but we both developed feelings for each other and...it just happened."

Clary was still confused, "Then why didn't you just tell me?"

"I couldn't, Clary. I didn't want to hurt you because I still love you. Just...not as much as a girlfriend and more of a best friend. I made a massive mistake. I'm so so sorry." The expression on his face would have broken her heart if a shell hadn't formed around it from everything she has been through. He grabbed her hand. "What do you say we just go back to how it used to be. You and me, best friends, inseparable. Please forgive me."

"I can."

"Really?" Simon went to hug her only to be shoved away.

"I will forgive you because everyone makes mistakes. I understand what you did and why, but that doesn't make it okay. You crushed my heart. Friends don't lie to each other, especially not best friends. But I will never forget what you have done. We can never go back to how we were because we are two different people now. I'm forgiving you for myself. I don't deserve to have a burden like that on my shoulders."

"Where do we go from here?"

"No where. From now on, we are complete strangers. We know nothing of each other. And having said that, please get out of my car. I don't like strangers in my car."

He nodded and went to get out of her vehicle. "I truly hope for the best for you Clary. You deserve it."

"Have a good life."

There wasn't anything left to say.

Clary definitely wasn't over what he did to her, but she was at least over Simon Lewis.

 **Alrighty I hope this chapter wasn't as sucky as it seems to me. If it is oopsie? My deepest apologies from my nonexistent heart. Just kidding, obviously I have a heart or else I could feel all of the Clace feels and that is what I live for.**

 **Hope everyone has a great day!**

 **Keep being the amazing person you are!**

 **~ALB**


	13. Chapter 12

**A/N I'm very surprised at the fact that 1-I've managed to make and maintain a schedule for updating and 2-that this story had gotten as far as it has. I never thought it would get anywhere to be honest. And it's all thanks to everyone one of you. You guys are the reason that I do this. It makes me so happy whenever I see a review or something, it motivates me to keep writing.**

 **I really don't want to let anyone down.**

 **Well school sucks, but then again, when doesn't it? So how are you guys doing? I hope really well because you guys are so amazing!**

 **ALSO, there is something I want to address. I feel really bad when I don't reply to reviews, but it's mostly because I don't know what to say. I can't express through words how happy and grateful I am for everyone in this community. So, I want you to know that I read every review, good or bad, about ten times and I appreciate each and every one. If you guys have any questions about** _ **anything,**_ **just tell me, I will respond.**

 **Thank you for reviewing, following and favoriting, it means a lot to me!**

 **DISCLAIMER:ALL RIGHTS TO** _ **THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS**_ **BELONG TO THE ABSOLUTELY DIVINE CASSANDRA CLARE**

 **~~~~~~~~~~STORY TIME~~~~~~~~~~**

Before going home, Clary decided to go to the store to get her emotions figured out and solved, so she could explain to Jace exactly what she was feeling if he asked. The big sign of the superstore popped up over the horizon line and she pulled into the parking lot.

When Clary looked over to the car in front of her, it looked strangely familiar. A strong sense of dizzy nostalgia gripped her heart inside her, but she didn't quite understand why. She just shook her head and walked past the front doors of the building.

Clary strolled down the aisles, searching for interesting new things while finding the items on her little grocery list. A deep color of red was all she saw as she exited one lane as she ran into someone. She almost fell to the floor, trying to understand the red in her vision, if the tender, thin hands hadn't reached out and pulled her up. She glanced up, an apology falling meekly off of her lips. Clary realized why the crimson hair was so much deeper than hers.

The woman she ran into was her mother, Jocelyn Fairchild.

Jocelyn looked so much better than when her daughter had last seen her. A while ago, Clary said her final farewells to her parents after they practically kicked her out. It was mostly Valentine doing the screaming at the same time her mother was sitting on the couch, a dull look on her face as her too slim body quivered. She did nothing to defend her only daughter.

Up to the present time, Jocelyn had filled out to a healthy weight. Her eyes had a bright glow that had been lost during her depressive times. Dark red hair had a large amount of color compared to a few years ago. The cart she was controlling contained multiple home items such as picture frames, pillows, plates, a lamp and some candles. Food products were also there, just not as plentiful.

Shock was clearly written on the elder's face, "Clary? Oh my...hi." She had the decency to look ashamed. Or was that embarrassment?

"Hello, Jocelyn." Clary stuck her chin in the air.

"It's...good to see you again. How are you doing?" Jocelyn said with the slightest hint of the motherly concern she used only when Clary was small.

"Things have been okay, I guess."

"How is," her voice immediately turned bitter, " _Simon_ doing?"

Clary could tell that she was just asking to be polite. Jocelyn didn't care about Simon Lewis. And frankly, neither did her at the moment. "I wouldn't know."

"Why is that?" Her mother tilted her head to the right side. "Aren't you his girlfriend?"

"Things got complicated and after a very messy break up, I am much happier."

Jocelyn's face was twisted with worry, which confused Clary tremendously. She never cared too much before, so what was different now? "I'm sorry to hear that-"

"Don't lie. I know you never showed affection for him, even less than everyone else."

She flinched. "I know I wasn't there Clary. I know. And trust me, it's the thing I most regret in my life. I should have been there for you and Jonathan, I was just so caught up in my own distress and downheartedness that I never became the mother that I could have been. I can't apologize enough. I just…" At that time, Jocelyn broke down into a frenzy of tears and sobs. "I'm so proud of the woman you have become. I-I.."

"Mom." Clary hadn't said that in so long that it felt weird saying it. "It's okay. I seem to be in the forgiving mood today." She laughed humorlessly. "I guess you deserve it too. You can't rewrite time and change what you did. I understand that Valentine was terrible. I dealt with him too, and he almost turned me into something weak like he did you. Only he didn't. I had my brother to support me. You could have had us, but instead rejected us."

"That's how I dealt with things back then, but I've become different. I divorced Valentine a year after he disowned you. I'm going to a therapist now who has helped so, so much. I found someone new, you remember my old friend Luke right? We are moving into a house together. I'm the happiest I have ever been. The only thing that could make me more content is to have my children back."

"Jonathan is gone." A sudden cough attack hit her for a few moments, then cleared up.

"You would be enough." Jocelyn grabbed a hold of Clary's hands, which tensed and slowly relaxed into her mother's.

Clary looked into her forest green eyes, only seeing love and concern within them. "Fine. I'll give you a second chance at being my mother. It'll take a long time, but with everything that's happened, it would be nice to have the comfort of a loving parent."

Jocelyn pulled Clary into a tight hug, one in which Clary hesitantly returned.

They caught up with each other on how their lives played out up until now for hours until the girls were kicked out for the shop closing.

By the time Clary had gotten home, it was completely dark out. She opened the door to find Jace pacing in front of the couch, "Clary! What happened? Are you okay?" He took two long strides to be face to face in front of her, her face an inch away from his muscular chest.

"Yes...why wouldn't I be?"

"Well I was just worried if Rat Face did something to you and you weren't answering your phone so I just…"

Clary put her hands on his shoulders to calm him down. "It's okay. I'm fine. Thank you for worrying, but I'm alive, I promise. Here," she seized Jace's hand and put it over her heart, "I'm safe. My heart is beating."

They were both staring into each other's eyes for an elongated amount of time. It seemed as though littles sparks shot from his fingers and pulsed into Clary's heart, making it beat abundantly faster than an average person for her age, much more than for someone with the same height she is. The only thing she could do was to hope that Jace hadn't noticed. By the look of his face, though, he was indeed aware.

Eventually, his expression turned unsettled. His hand went up to her forehead. "Clary are you feeling alright? You seem to be very warm and unusually pale."

"Are you sure it's not just my vampire white complexion with spots of freckles?"

"No even your adorable freckles almost blend in with your skin. I think you might need to sit down."

" _Jace,_ I am perfectly okay. I am just tired, that's all. I'm going to go to bed and you should too. Tomorrow morning I will tell you about what happened today and trust me, there is a lot."

With that, she ignored Jace's concerned face and fell asleep on her bed, in her clothes she wore that day.

 **O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O**

Three days later, something was definitely wrong. Throughout the weekend, she felt weirder and weirder, but on Monday Clary woke up feeling like she was hit by a massive train in her sleep. It was just like the day after she and Simon played shots Truth or Dare at Aline's house in high school, which Clary, evidently, lost.

She didn't even bother taking a shower and just put her hair in a ponytail, not giving a crap about what anyone would think. The mirror reflected Clary's darkly bagged eyes and pale skin. Clary had been coughing all night and couldn't get enough blankets to keep her warm. She had debated going to Jace to find warmth, but that would concern him too much. He didn't need to be worried.

"You can't be serious about going to school today." Clary sprang up from her position of her head on the counter. "You look like you just came back from the dead, Clary. There is no way that it can be safe for you to leave."

Jace came into view in front of her unfocused eyes. "I have to," she croaked, "I have to present my midterm that's very important and I can't miss it or else the teacher will take points off.

"That's bullshit. I think he or she would understand why you can't show up."

"No...No! I can do this and I _will_ do this." Clary, being the insanely stubborn person she is, retaliated back at him with all the energy she could manage. "You can't fight me on this, I will show up and get a good, deserving grade on this project today."

Jace looked up to the ceiling as if praying for someone to help him and her, "Fine. You can go to school today, on the condition that you put me into your emergency contacts list and you call me if you feel any worse, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, okay." She gave him her phone to change the contact. "Gotta go, see you."

"Be safe!"

 **o.O.o.O.o.O.o**

Straightaway, after parking her car, Clary felt even more ill. The focus of driving started giving her a big headache, but she sucked it up and stumbled into the classroom.

Clary didn't pay attention to any of the projects that were being shown and discussed in front of her. The task of the project was to write a speech about a famous artist that interested or inspired them. Claude Monet was the person she chose because of the beautiful landscapes that he painted. Her entire speech was memorized and perfected, ready to be spoken at a moment's notice.

Finally, it was her turn to present, to get all of the weight off of herself. Clary rose with her mouth open to introduce her lecture, only to have the world fall upside down.

 **O.o.O.o.O.o.O**

Jace Herondale had been sitting in the most boring science class he had ever taken. The professor was an old man who had such a thick Spanish accent that no one could understand what was being spoken.

Halfway through the session, his phone rang. _Shit_ he thought to himself _I forgot to set it on vibrate._

The number was unknown, although it had the area code of the town, which made him wonder. Despite the enraged look on the instructor's face, Jace responded to the call and put the phone up to his ear.

"Hello?"

The soft, yet urgent voice of a female replied, "Hi, is this Jace Herondale speaking?"

"Yes it is, may I ask who is calling?"

"This is the nurse at your college. I would like you to come down to my office as you are on one of Clary Fray's emergency contacts."

Jace stood up quickly, nearly knocking his tiny table over. "Is everything okay? What is going on!?"

"Miss Fray passed out during her History of Art class and I would like for you to take her home."

"What happened? Is it serious?"

What the woman said next sent a frosty chill up his body.

"I guess we will know that whether if she wakes up or not."

 **Oh no! Will Clary be alright? What happened? How is Jace going to react? Stay tuned for the next chapter of Things Aren't Always Perfect to find out!**

 **Haha no this isn't a TV show, I just thought it kind of fit with the dramatic reality shows that play.**

 **Anyways, thank you all for reading!**

 **Keep being the amazing person you are!**

 **~ALB**


	14. Chapter 13

**A/N Alright you guys know the drill. THANK YOU so so much if you reviewed, followed and/or favorited this story, or even** _ **A Night To Remember,**_ **it means a lot. I know I say this all the time, but I'm serious. You people are amazing people. If you couldn't tell, I'm not the best with words.**

 **So I hope this chapter answers your questions and worries about Clary. When I said I would answer your questions last chapter, I meant that I would PM you, unless you are a guest.**

 **Having said that, to the guest who I couldn't PM, I think this chapter will settle everything out.**

 **In other news, last chapter broke 2,000 words! To some authors it might not be a big deal, but to me it kind of is considering I used to post sporadically, once every month or so, with less than 1,000 words.**

 **For those of you who don't know, I usually post every two weeks, sometimes I make exceptions.**

 **Anyways, no one cares about my personal records so on with the story!**

 **DISCLAIMER: ALL RIGHTS TO THE** _ **MORTAL INSTRUMENTS**_ **BELONG TO THE INSPIRING CASSANDRA CLARE**

 **~~~~~~~~~~STORY TIME~~~~~~~~~~**

As a result of Jace standing up and hastily making his way out of the maze of desks leading to the door, the lecturer, along with all of the students, gave him weird looks while shouting in flabbergasted tones. He didn't care, though, because the only thing on his mind was getting to the nurse's office as quick as possible.

Believe it or not, Jace had never been in the school's office for medical reasons, so he wasn't quite sure where to go. He just had to keep telling himself _it's okay. She's okay. Everything will be okay._ It's the only thing he could do to calm himself and keep him from grabbing some student's collar and screaming at them to tell him where to find Clary.

That was probably why the nurse was so exasperated when he finally reached the room. "What took you so long? Something could have happened and there are no other emergency contacts in Clarissa's phone."

This, and the new name, startled the golden boy. He would have thought that Clary would have had someone else, but apparently not. And "Clarissa" was a name Jace never heard when talking about her. Not that she talked about her all the time. Definitely not. Nope. Not at all.

Everything in the office was white. The desk, the chairs, the small bathroom. Everything.

The attendant showed Jace to where Clary laid on a small mattress. The small girl looked sickly pale against the stark red of her hair. Her body seemed even more frail, as though a single touch would shatter her into a million pieces. She had both hands on her chest like someone who was dead in their casket.

Next to Clary was a boy with black hair and surprisingly coal black eyes. Black haired boy was pretty tall and had a slender build, but not in a lanky sort of way. The nose below his eyes was the biggest feature about him. What most unnerved Jace, was that his gaze never seemed to waver from the ill girl's face.

Jace cleared his throat loudly. "Excuse me, who are you?"

His onyx eyes narrowed and flicked up to Jace's. "Who are you?"

"I'm here to take Clary back to our apartment to take care of her. Now, who are you and why are you staring into her face?"

Straightening up, he replied, "I'm Sebastian Verlac, the person who carried Clary here when she passed out during our Art History class. Clary never mentioned having a super overprotective boyfriend as her roommate."

"That's probably because I'm not, just a close friend."

Sebastian smirked, "Good to know."

"Mr. Verlac," the medic called to him, "you can go back to class now. Clarissa is in good hands and I need space in case something happens or someone else comes in."

"I understand." With one last longful glance at Clary, he strided out of the small room.

"I can't be sure what caused Clarissa to go into consciousness without having information on her behalf of what she has consumed lately, but to my knowledge, it seems that she passed out in dehydration. That's not all, it seems that she has a strand of the flu, also." The nurse continues, "When she wakes up, if that time is soon, then I need you to take her back and treat her sickness. Will that be a problem?"

Jace shook his head, "No, it shouldn't be."

"Then I shall leave you with her. I have to go see to someone else." Jace nodded and she left.

The Herondale didn't know how long he sat in the chair Sebastian was in, watching Clary, waiting for the beautiful girl to open her emerald eyes and return the look.

It was almost as if some universal force was pulling Jace towards her. His eyes slipped shut as his face came closer and closer to Clary's.

With a light, gentle force, Jace pressed his lips to the faint girl's forehead, a spark igniting from the kiss.

Jace pulled back and all of the sudden he got the feeling like his hand was caught in the cookie jar because all he saw in that moment was the green of Clary's open eyes.

 **O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O**

 _Clary was floating in nothingness._

 _The area around her was a dark gray and all she felt was numb._

 _All of the sudden, Clary was pushed into a black square and came to be standing in front of her brother._

 _Her eyebrows furrowed. "Jonathan. Jonathan!" She cried out, reaching her hand to him._

 _The white haired boy turned around. His eyes, normally a shade of green like her family, was the darkest, emptiest color she could ever imagine. "What do you want_ Clarissa _?" He spit her name out of his mouth like fire._

 _A shiver ran down her spine, "Jon, where have you been? I needed you!"_

" _Yeah? Well I didn't need you. You mean nothing to me and you never did, nor will you ever be anything to me."_

 _Clary took a step forward, hurt, her hand brushing his arm. That was all it took to yank her out of this image and into a different setting._

 _She was on a beach, the sand, white and the lake in front of her a burning sapphire._

 _There was a person in front of her with curly hair that was covered in a thick, red substance._

 _Blood._

 _Screaming, she fell back onto the soft grains of the beach. The boy turned around and glared at her, bloodlust clear in his eyes. He opened his mouth to show gleaming white fangs._

" _Simon!" Clary shrieked in desperation as the fanged creature leaped into the air, heading straight for her._

 _Fortunately, he did not make it very far at all. A golden flash had come and slayed the vampire in the blink of an eye. Simon, or what was left of his contorted body, fell limp on the ground. Clary's sight took a moment to adjust to the change in light as the winged angel stood in front of her, holding a hand out. Only when she took it, she realized that the golden man was Jace Herondale._

 _He gently led her to him and pressed a kiss to her head._

She opened her eyes and was met with Jace's glorious face above her.

 **o.O.o.O.o.O.o**

Jace heaved his head back, feeling a light heat flush across his face. _Jace Herondale doesn't blush._ He just got caught kissing his female roommate while she was passed out. _Great going._

Clary appeared to be trying to raise one eyebrow, but was failing miserably, looking as though she was birthing a baby. "What happened? Where am I?" She sat up and coughed for a minute before peering through her hair that fell into her face up at Jace almost shyly. Relief poured into him as he realized she didn't know what had just happened, or at least she didn't seem like it.

"You passed out while giving your speech in Art History. Have you been drinking water lately because it might have been out of dehydration? Oh, and there is the fact that you have the flu and _went to school._ " A sudden urge hit Jace to brush her hair away from her face. Since he was so tired and worried about Clary, he did it without a single thought.

"I guess not," red covered her face like a tomato, "I haven't since lunch yesterday before I went to my old apartment. What time is it? I should head back to class."

The weak girl tried to stand only to have her shaky legs give out from under her, her head rushing from trying to stand up so quickly.

"Claaaaary," Jace groaned. "You need to rest, you cannot go back to a stressful course while you aren't well. I'm taking you home."

"How do you think I'll get there? Shall I just levitate? You won't let me walk to class, I highly doubt you will let me drive my car." Clary really didn't like the glimmer in his eyes as an idea popped into his head.

Jace slipped his arms under her legs and arms to lift her into his arms, allowing her to curl into his chest involuntarily, her head going in the crook of his neck. Clary squealed and slapped his shoulder as hard as she could in her current state, and considering it wouldn't have been very strong even if she wasn't ill, it was more of a nuisance to her than him. Giving up, she relaxes into his chest, feeling more like home than she had ever felt anywhere before.

"C'mon, let's get you home, I'm putting you on bed rest."

 **Awwwww a little Clace! I love them so much together.**

 **Hope you like this chapter!**

 **If you want a little more Clace you could check out my one shot that has some.**

 **Okay, okay, I'm done self promoting.**

 **Thank you for reading!**

 **Keep being the amazing person you are!**

 **~ALB**


	15. Chapter 14

**A/N So this chapter is a little late, my apologies. The past week has been so crazy that I haven't even had time to think. I had been working backstage everyday for a week for a musical while trying to juggle my grades and tests. Yeah, it's been hectic, but I had a day off so now I'm updating! Yay!**

 **Yeah, these characters are definitely OOC. That's just how I write them though.**

 **Thank you to everyone who followed/favorited/reviewed, I know I say it a lot, but I am super grateful for each and every one of you.**

 **Hope you like this chapter!**

 **DISCLAIMER: ALL RIGHTS TO THE** _ **MORTAL INSTRUMENTS**_ **BELONG TO THE EXTRAORDINARY CASSANDRA CLARE**

 **~~~~~~~~~~STORY TIME~~~~~~~~~~**

Once they got back to their apartment, Clary immediately crashed on the couch and fell asleep. Jace had convinced her to sleep on the couch, arguing that this way he could make sure that she was doing okay and that nothing bad would happen while she was sleeping. That, along with her exhaustion, persuaded her to do as Jace urged.

Jace wasn't really sure how to handle Clary as she was ill. Maryse was practically a germaphobe and never allowed Jace to be sick. If he even had so much as a slight cough, she would lock Jace in his room with some carrot sticks until he claimed to be better. It's not like Robert was ever home to care, anyways.

His real mother didn't have many memories in his head, as she died when he was young, and instead of keeping a stupid bad memory of him being sick, Jace liked to remember her bright smile.

Putting his worries about being more of a pest instead of helpful, Jace filled up a glass of water, grabbed a box of tissues and set them next to Clary's sleeping figure. Clary still looked beautiful to Jace no matter how sickly she looked.

The frail girl slept for hours until all of the sudden, Jace's dinner was interrupted by Clary rushing to the bathroom. Jace came in the room to see Clary puking her guts out, tears running down her face. He pulled her hair back out of her face into a messy bun and went to grab a cool, wet hand towel.

Clary was leaning against the sink with her legs curled into her. Her head pushed up to meet the rag that Jace had been reaching out to put on her forehead. Green eyes opened for a split second of gratitude, only to be slammed shut in a wave of nausea.

Dread fluttered across Clary's face as she went to throw up again.

An hour and a half later, she was finally done, shivering in the corner next to the toilet. The poor girl had rinsed her mouth out and was only taking tiny sips of water so she doesn't get too dehydrated. Every minute, Jace was there right beside her, getting anything she needed.

The chills eventually got to be too much and the small shaking turned into heavy shudders. Jace touched her arm, yelping at how cold she felt.

Her skin felt like ice.

Instinct took over without thought and he pulled Clary into his body, arms wrapping around her waist, goosebumps rising all over his body from the temperature change.

Clary tried to shove Jace away. "No, I'm too sick. You are too nice to get sick...Jaaaaace." She groaned, but soon realized her fighting was futile and gave up, leaning into him.

They stayed intertwined like that till Jace's watch started blaring in alarm to wake him up for school that he had forgotten to turn off for the break. Hastily, he turned it off, not wanting to wake Clary. He lifted her up into his arms, keeping jostling to a minimum and put her on the couch.

Tiny arms grabbed Jace by the shirt when he let her go and pulled him into her. He didn't have the energy or the will to fight her, so he carefully fell onto the couch and moved to hold Clary. Jace made sure that he kept his face away from her because he didn't want to get sick and be unable to help Clary.

He would just have to remember to spray the bathroom down with disinfectant tomorrow.

 **O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O**

Clary woke up to a warmth engulfing her. Everything felt right in the world until her mind noticed the blaring light in front of her eyelids, instantly causing a mind splitting headache to appear. Opening her eyes, she realized that the light was the sun glaring in from the window. She groaned and rolled over.

What she saw next nearly gave her a heart attack.

Golden curls surrounded an angelic face that was slightly turned away from her. The man's eyes were closed and he was breathing was deep. It was obvious that the pleasant warmth she was feeling was the person who was sleeping right against her.

Freaked out, she shoved the man who she couldn't recognize in her tired, loopy mind, off of the couch with a squeak.

"What the…"

Clary peered over the cushions to see that the person that she just threw onto the floor was Jace Herondale. "Jace!" She croaked, "what the heck are you.." After a fit of dry coughs, Clary finished, "doing? I thought you were...going to Alec's…"

After the initial shock wore off, embarrassment flooded in to replace it. "I-I...you were...last night-"

Clary began to shake her head as if to say it's okay, but that just induced another sharp pain in her head. Moaning loudly, she gripped her head in between her hands.

"Clary? Are you alright? What's wrong?" Concern laced in Jace's words.

"My..my head."

Jace ran to the cupboard and came back with pain medication. "Here, take this, it should help. I'll go get some crackers from the store for your dinner tonight, will you be okay?"

"I think," she replied quietly.

He set a wastebasket next to her just in case, and left to his car.

 **O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O**

When Jace got home about twenty minutes later, he found Clary slouched on the sofa, eating popcorn while watching t.v.

"Clary!" Jace ran to her and ripped the bowl away from her. "What are you doing?! You aren't supposed to be eating!"

"But Jace!" She giggled, which sounded more like an animal dying because her throat was so arid. "It's yummy!"

It was at that moment he noticed the empty bottle of pain medication laying on the floor. His eyes widened, hardly keeping them inside their sockets. "You took all of them?! You were supposed to take two!"

"My head hurt. Come sit with me...you're hot. I like you."

Jace ran his hand through his hair, frustrated. Ignoring the compliment, he threw the buttery treat out and grabbed his phone to call poison control.

"I don't feel so good…" Clary took the basket next to her and did what she had been doing the night before. "Ugh."

After a long chat with the doctors on the poison control, it turned out to be a good thing Clary threw up because most of the pills hadn't been digested yet. Clary had collapsed back onto the couch afterwards.

When she wakes up, though, she's in for a stern lecture, but since she isn't in her right mind and has been feeling crappy, he will let it slide for now.

Hopefully, Clary will get better soon.

 **This was a bit of a filler chapter, but I did out a tad of Clace in there. I'm a sucker for them.**

 **Thank you for reading! And for all of those who celebrate, happy Thanksgiving!**

 **Keep being the amazing person you are!**

 **~ALB**


	16. Chapter 15

**A/N Hey guys, hope you are all doing great!**

 **I just got done putting up my Christmas tree and watching holiday movies. I am in the Christmas mood! So, how about all of you? You guys ready for the holidays (if you celebrate, of course)?**

 **Thank you all for favoriting/following/reviewing!**

 **DISCLAIMER: ALL RIGHTS TO THE** _ **MORTAL INSTRUMENTS**_ **BELONG TO THE REMARKABLE CASSANDRA CLARE**

 **~~~~~~~~~~STORY TIME~~~~~~~~~~**

Clary woke up with a mind shattering headache. It felt like an earthquake was splitting her head into two. A few years back, Simon and Clary experimented with some alcoholic drinks, and this felt exactly like how she felt when she got up the next morning with the worst hangover ever.

Rolling over, she read the blinking clock to be ten twenty three. She doesn't normally sleep this late;it seemed that this sickness was taking a lot out of her.

There was a bottle of water on her bedside table. That was nice and all, she knew Jace had set it there, but what she really needed right now was some pain medication. Clary groaned and dragged herself out of bed with the hopes of recalling what had happened the night before. She couldn't remember anything passed waking up next to Jace.

The television was on when she walked out of her room, notifying her that Jace was up. Stumbling out of her room, Clary searched for the golden boy's bright hair. He was in the kitchen, putting the clean dishes away into the cupboards.

Before she went to go interrogate Jace about the happenings of last night, her brain decided that it wasn't going to stop trying to burst out of her head and she needed to take something now.

She searched the entire bathroom for the bottle, with no luck. It just didn't want to appear.

"Hey, Jace?" Clary yelled, only to flinch and walk into the living room so she wouldn't have to shout again. "Do you know where the..?" The pills were in his hands, which is why she had stopped mid sentence.

Jace looked up with a harsh, sarcastic questioning in his expression. "Looking for this so you can try to kill yourself again? Forgive me if I'm not about to let that happen to someone who I care for."

"Shhhhhh... And what are you even talking about?"

"You seriously don't remember what you did yesterday?" He laughed humorlessly, "You had a migraine, so I left you with the pills while I went to get you some crackers. I came home to find you downed half the medication bottle and were on some kind of "high", eating popcorn. Lucky you threw them up not that long after I got home, or else you would have had to gone to the hospital."

This confused Clary even more. She knew she was sick, but Clary didn't know that she would go so far as to almost poison herself. "Okay, just hand over the medicine and I promise I will only take two pills. I'll even let you give them to me while I'm supervised. But please, just don't let me suffer like this."

"Clary...I think you should just lay down for a while and drink lots of water to flush this virus out of your body."

She groaned, but draped herself over the couch anyways, not wanting to argue with him right now.

"Hey, so I was thinking…" Jace started uncertainly, falling on the sofa next to her, "when you get better and all...how would you feel about-"

Before he could finish, there was a knock on the apartment door.

Jace flushed the slightest bit and went to see who it was, but the person was already coming in.

Alec Lightwood waltzed in wearing the biggest smile that he probably has ever worn in the entirety of his lifetime. In his hands was a bag from the Cafe and something that was shining on his hand…

"Hey, Clary, I hope you are feeling better." Clary grunted in return. "Anyways, I brought you some donuts," he said handing the bag to a wary Jace who glanced at Clary before taking it.

"What brings you by? And why are you so happy? You are smiling wider than normal, which I guess that doesn't say much because you don't grin regularly, anyways off topic. What's gotten into you?"

Shrugging casually, he said, "Oh you know, had a great day. Got some coffee, went over to Magnus' house, got engaged, went to the Cafe, and now I'm here."

"Oh my gosh!" The squeak came from, not Jace, but the sickly girl on the couch. Well, now she's technically off the couch considering she sprang four feet in the air to go to Alec. "That's so great! I'm so," she coughed, "happy for you. I'm sure Magnus is a great guy."

Jace clapped a hand on his brother's back. "Congrats dude, when is the wedding?"

"We aren't positive on the exact date, but we want it to be in the fall since that is when we first met."

"That's so cute." Clary replied. "Here, let me see the ring."

Alec set his hand with the ring onto her open one. He couldn't help but laugh at her face when she saw it. Confusion and awe mixed with her already excited face.

The ring was plain gold, wrapping around his left hand's ring finger. What was different was that it had glittering diamonds embedded into the gold which was so unlike Alec. He was more dull, which made Clary wonder how glittery and sparkly his boyfriend-now fiance-happened to be.

"It's gorgeous," she gushed, ignoring the fact that her voice had cracked.

Jace stepped in and put his hands on the small girl's shoulders. "Alright, let's get you back down on the couch. You are swaying." He guided her till she was comfortable, then went back to Alec. "Have you told anyone else yet?"

The Lightwood rolled his eyes. "Yes, because mom just loves hearing me talk about how my boyfriend and I are doing. Izzy doesn't deserve to know and Magnus already told his good friend Catarina before the proposal."

"Speaking of your shimmering fiance, where is he?"

"Well... he was supposed to propose to night, according to him, but he was just so eager he let it slip. I believe he is trying to work out the plans of an extremely romantic dinner tonight. I don't know." Alec blushed in embarrassment.

Meanwhile, Clary called out again from the couch, her headache apparently not a thought. "Come over here and tell me how it happened." She was a sucker for amour.

He sat in the chair next to her, as Jace ruffled through the donut bag, and began retelling his tale of how he got engaged.

 **Yay! Got some Malec in there! Sorry that this chapter is a little smaller than the regulars, but hey! It's still over 1,000 words! Plus we got some cute, fluffy Malec which is always awesome.**

 **Thank you all for reading this chapter!**

 **Keep being the amazing person you are!**

 **~ALB**


	17. Chapter 16

**A/N Alright, so I was going to be a horrible person and make you guys wait a few weeks for the next chapter, but you guys are too great to deserve that. I didn't want to leave an author's note for a chapter because I don't like getting disappointed when I see those, so I'll give you another chapter, even though it may be a little short.**

 **I might not update for a few weeks, I'm going to be celebrating the holidays and getting ready for some tests. I know, excuses, excuses. My apologies.**

 **Anyways, are any of you Star Wars fans? I can't wait to see the new movie on Friday. Have you of are you going to see** _ **Rogue One?**_ **NO SPOILERS IF SO PLEASE!**

 **Thank you all for reviewing, favoriting and following my story! It means a lot to me; every single one of you.**

 **DISCLAIMER: ALL RIGHTS TO THE** _ **MORTAL INSTRUMENTS**_ **BELONG TO THE GREAT CASSANDRA CLARE**

 **~~~~~~~~~~STORY TIME~~~~~~~~~~**

It had been two days since Alec's announcement of the engagement. The news had put Clary in a good enough mood to allow Jace to stay home with her for one day, but when Thursday rolled around, she had forced the boy to go back to school. Clary had reasoned that she felt better and he couldn't be behind in his work without her feeling even more terrible.

Jace came back to the cozy apartment feeling horrible that day. College was supposed to be different from high school, less petty, but apparently he was very wrong. Rumors about Clary's fainting and absence had spread, spiraling into horrible things. Two girls were murmuring behind him in his debate class about how Clary had supposedly gotten pregnant and caused her to pass out.

That wasn't the case, obviously. Neither was the story of how she tried a new drug and it overloaded her system. _The things people these days come up with for entertainment,_ Jace thought to himself, _how pathetic can they be?_

At the moment, Clary seemed to be in to shower, which explains why he landed on her phone once he jumped on the couch. He set the device onto the coffee table so it wouldn't continue stabbing itself into his back and so he could watch something on the television.

Minutes later, the cell phone started ringing, but Clary was still singing loudly, albeit off pitch, in the bathroom, so Jace decided to see if it was anyone important.

Jace's blood boiled underneath his skin when he saw the name flashing on the screen. _Sebastian Verlac._ He let the phone ring and ring, not taking it to Clary. When it was done, a new message blinked up at him which read, _Hey, you missed a lot during Art History. You want me to swing by and drop it off? I want to see you :)_

If it was possible for Jace to explode from the anger he was feeling, then his guts would be all over the cream colored walls. He quickly looked at the room where the redhead was currently in before snatching the lighted object and opening it. The text he sent back in reply for her was _Oh hi! Actually my place is a bit of a mess, so how about I just meet you outside. It'll be good to get some fresh air._

 __A small surge of pride flooded through him because he didn't snap at Sebastard and it sounded very close to something Clary would say.

He replied back almost immediately, confirming that it would be okay. Only, he didn't realize that he would be meeting a big muscular man instead of a small frail girl.

The shower had stopped in the bathroom so Jace hurriedly erased the past few text messages and threw it on the table. He leaned back with his arms folded nonchalantly. Clary grinned in greeting as she came out, drying her hair with a yellow towel. "How was class?" Her voice wasn't all there yet, but it was coming back little by little each day.

"Eh, same as always, boring as hell," he replied.

Just as she sat down next to him, Jace stood up. Hurt flashed briefly across the pale face of the girl, before being poorly covered up. He smiled apologetically and said, "I'll be right back, just need to get some air. It's a little stuffy in here."

Jace waited for her response which was a tiny nod, and then walked down the steps to the door leading outside.

Around twenty minutes of sitting on a bench outside the building later, Sebastian walked up. He appeared to have dressed up a bit with a nice pair of jeans and a skin-tight t-shirt that made Jace want to barf. The cologne warn on the Verlac could be smelt a hundred miles away from the source.

Sebastard looked around for a moment and then settled to reclining against a nearby tree. The golden man pushed himself out of his seat and gracefully strolled over to the onyx haired boy, trying to conceal his fury.

"Hey." Verlac turned to Jace when he called.

An eyebrow raised on Sebastian's face. "Aren't you Clary's friend?"

"I am," he replied curtly.

"Well? Where is she?"

"Listen here, Verlac." Jace grabbed his shirt and yanked him towards him, "You stay away from Clary. I know what the type of guy you are. You get with girls, just to leave them heartbroken and alone. She doesn't need that shit in her life right now."

He tried to shove Jace away, but he wasn't as strong and ended up doing minimal damage. "What the hell is your problem man? Back off!"

"All you want to do is get in her pants, then ditch her. I've heard all of the stories of what you have done, seen the looks on the girls' faces as they see you locking lips with some other girl without even breaking it off. I'm no idiot and neither is Clary, but you need to keep away unless you want that pretty little face of yours that you think so highly of to be messed up. Now, wouldn't that be a shame."

Sebastian had a mix of a smirk and a flinch on his face. "You don't know me," he spat, "and you don't have a right to threaten me like that."

Jace tilted his head, "If you value your stay at LIU, then I suggest you shut your mouth. Anyone has enough dirt on you to get you kicked out and blocked from entering other schools. Your family is very dirty. You don't clean up very well."

"Fine," he snapped. "I'll leave the girl alone. Just...leave me alone. Don't go meddling in other people's business." Sebastian stomped heavily through the garden and into his car to drive off.

Hoping he didn't make a big mistake, Jace grabbed Clary's dropped work and went up to his room to finally allow a sense of relief to wash over him.

"You all right?" Clary looked at him with worried eyes.

"Yeah, everything's fine."

 **Well Sebastian has been taken care of.**

 **But the question is, will he remain silent like he said, or get himself even more on Jace's bad side?**

 **Thank you all for reading!**

 **Keep being the amazing person you are!**

 **~ALB**


	18. Chapter 17

**A/N I'm back! I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Years! Ugh, back to school for me. A special thanks to everyone who reviewed, followed and/or favorited this story. It really means alot to me. I freak out a little every time and it just makes me feel really good.**

 **I appreciate every single one of you!**

 **Again, I am very very sorry that I took a break and missed one update. Really, I just wasn't in the mood to write. But now, I actually wanted to finish this chapter so here you are! Thanks again for being so patient with me and for waiting!**

 **DISCLAIMER: ALL RIGHTS TO THE** _ **MORTAL INSTRUMENTS**_ **BELONG TO THE ASTOUNDING CASSANDRA CLARE**

 **~~~~~~~~~~STORY TIME~~~~~~~~~~**

The sun was just setting, casting deep amber rays of the sunset around the towering apartment building.

Clary looked out the window of her room to watch the slowly dropping sphere, only to be interrupted by the sudden slamming of the front door and yelling. Immediately, she thought _we are being robbed._

She was freaking out. Why would someone want to steal from her and Jace? It's not like they had a ton of expensive items. In fact, the only thing that was actually worth the most money was probably their refrigerator. Jace told her not to long ago that the television was a knock off that he got from online.

How she would defend her current home, she didn't know. Obviously, the intruders wouldn't be afraid of her tiny size, so fear factor was definitely out. A pointed paintbrush was the only thing found as she tried to search for something that could be used as a weapon. That would have to be good enough to protect her and allow her time to find a sharp knife from the kitchen.

One thing was for certain, as she readied herself for battle, she was absolutely unprepared to harm someone, even if it was a dangerous person. Clary was fierce, but not an aggressive fighter. She felt scared and the more she speculated it, the more frightened she became.

Finally, she decided she was in the best mindset that she would ever be, plus if she waited too long, they would eventually barge into her bedroom.

After a couple knocks on the wall in between her's and Jace's room to try to capture his attention, she let out a battle cry while running out of the room, brush erect and prime in her hand, ready to guard the only place that has ever felt a little like home.

She stopped dead in her tracks, almost slipping and falling on her butt, when she saw who was at the door.

Two men, one with enough glitter on to cover the continent of Asia, not to mention that he looked a bit Asian, and the other whom she recognized as Alec. Light reflected off of the sparkly man's sequined clothing, his hair spiked up with even more glitter.

The silence surrounding the three horrified people was broken by Alec clearing his throat. "Clary, it's uh...nice to see you..again."

Mortified, Clary silently prayed that if Jace didn't show up within the next couple seconds, that a black hole would appear and swallow her up. She laughed awkwardly, "Um...yeah."

"Ah, so this is the lovely ginger that I have heard so much about," the sparkly man smiled with shining teeth. Clary noticed as he looked at her that his eyes resembled those of a cat's. Now she was even more confused. Alec is with a man who he has talked to him about her...and he just got engaged, so it obviously had to be Magnus Bane, his fiance.

A red flush came up from her neck to heat her face in even more embarrassment. "Hello, yes I'm Clary Fray, Jace's best fr-roommate. I mean roommate. I mean, I'm not so conceited to think that I was his best roommate, obviously he could have had better mates, not that I'm that bad, maybe I'm that bad I-oh!" Her nervous rambling came to a halt when her eyes took notice to the little bag leaning against the couch. She looked through it to find what looked to be her missed work that someone must have dropped off.

"Magnus Bane," he bowed, "it is a pleasure to meet you." He turned to Alec and said, "she is even more adorable than I expected." His laugh sounded mystical, yet comforting.

"I'll just go get Jace."

"Wait, Clary, I don't know if Jace told you or not, but we are having a movie night here with pizza, you in?"

She could really go for some pizza right now so she replied with a quick 'sure', then knocked on the golden man's door. It was a few moments before it was opened, which gave her time to think. If there really was robbers in their apartment, Jace would have never known that Clary could have been taken hostage. Hmpf.

Jace was shirtless and his hair was askew when he finally opened the door. It appeared that he had been sleeping based on the drowsy look on his face. "Hey, Red."

She tilted her head. "Red?"

"Thought that since we are kind of close now, that I should give you a nickname. No?" She shook her head. "Alright fine, I'll keep working on it. Anyways, what can I help you with."

"Alec and Magnus are here for a movie night."

"Ah yes!" Jace peered over her, which wasn't very hard, to see Magnus playing with the collar on Alec's faded brown sweater. "You guys are already engaged, you don't need to flirt with each other still. And save the passion for your honeymoon, you don't need to scar the both of us." After glancing at Clary, he went and grabbed a shirt only to disappear into the kitchen, leaving Clary alone with the coddling men.

Magnus shot her a sly smile and a wink, "it keeps the relationship interesting,"

Minutes later, he came out with his cell phone in hand and said, "I just ordered the food. Now," he hopped onto the couch, "what movie should we watch?

All of the sudden, Magnus cried out, "Oh we must watch something Disney!"

Clary agreed, "that's a great idea."

The other two boys groaned. "I'm so tired of watching lovey dovey movies, Magnus, let's see some action!"

Magnus and Clary turned to each other with a glint in their eyes, meaning that they had found the perfect movie that fit everyone's descriptions- _Mulan._

 _ **O.o.O.o.O.o.O**_

The movie was almost done and Clary was getting tired in the very dim lighting. Unfortunately, the pizza hadn't come yet, so Clary had nothing to keep her up except the close proximity of Jace to her body. She couldn't help but drop her head onto Jace's shoulder as her eyes started drooping closed, butterflies fluttering in her stomach for some reason. Her legs curled into him.

Jace stiffened as she did this, but eventually he softened even leaning his head on her's, ignoring the stares he was getting from Magnus.

Ten minutes later, the pizza arrived just after the movie credits came on the screen.

"Talk about perfect timing, amirite?" Jace smiled and slowly shook the sleeping girl awake. "Claaaary, it's time to wake up." Alec went to go pay for the food, yet Clary still didn't wake up, a moan the only sign of life in the girl. "Food is here," he whispered in her ear.

Springing up, Clary almost bumped heads with Jace in her attempt to get the pizza. "Calm down, Clary," he laughed, "I'll go dish out some dinner."

"I will go help you, Jace," came a reply from Alec.

Jace raised an eyebrow, making Clary jealous-she has always wanted to do that- as the Lightwood jumped up to join the Herondale in the kitchen.

Once in the kitchen, Jace started setting up the dinner as Alec just stood there and looked at him with a questioning look on his face. He couldn't take it anymore, "What? Do I have something on my face?"

Alec looked startled and stuttered for a second before recovering. "You really like her, don't you?"

"Excuse me?"

"Clary. You genuinely like her."

"Of course I like her, why wouldn't I? She's so nice and sweet and pretty and…"

His eyes widened.

"I think I more than like her."

Alec smirked in triumph, but still had a worried expression crossed his face. "You know, I-I...I mean...once upon a time I...liked you."

"Gee thanks Alec."

"No I mean," he sighed frustrated, "I _liked_ you. As in like like. As in-"

Jace interrupted him, "I get it Alec, I understand. And besides, I already knew."

Now, he looked flabbergasted. "You knew?! What? How? I don't understand."

"Brother, I think that you giving me the puppy dog eyes that all the girls at Pandemonium give me kind of gave it away just a tiny bit." When the other man slapped his forehead, Jace tried to make him feel better. "It's totally cool, man. I'm glad you finally moved on."

They both looked into the living room, one staring lovingly at his fiance and the other wondering what she and Magnus were talking about so deeply.

 _ **O.o.O.o.O.o.O**_

Magnus Bane watched as the two boys left the living room, waiting for the perfect time to bring it up. "So you and Jace seemed to have been pretty cozy together, wouldn't you say?"

Clary couldn't stop the blush from creeping up her face. "Yeah, we have gotten close, I guess. It has been about two weeks and we have been together a lot."

"That's not what I meant." He snickered, only it was kindly, "you like him. You really like him. Do you have feelings for Jace?"

"W-what? Why w-would you ask something like that?"

"You totally like him."

She seemed a little defeated. "No, I...I can't. I'm just hurt from Simon, I don't understand my feelings. I can't just like Jace after I was just out of a bad relationship."

"Who are you trying to convince, me or yourself?"

"I'm not very sure."

A smile slid across his face as the boys came back into the living room.

"I think you'll figure that out very soon."

 **Okay, I've had a really fun time writing this chapter, I just love the Malec and the little Clace in there.**

 ** _ALSO IMPORTANT_ \- please, please, if you have any good ideas for what Clary's nickname should be then leave a review or PM me or something. I need ideas, please!**

 **Thank you all for reading!**

 **Keep being the amazing person you are!**

 **~ALB**


	19. Chapter 18

**A/N I am very sorry to not have updated in awhile, my laptop had a corrupt hard drive. I swear I actually had to get a new computer, in the end it was the best decision, and I wasn't lying about that. I wouldn't lie to you guys on purpose. If I didn't have the inspiration or the will to write, I would say that.**

 **Also, thank you for all of the great ideas for Clary's nickname! I just wanted to clear up the fact that it wasn't that I don't like the nickname "Red", it's just it is used very often and I wanted to try something new and unique. I love all of the options that you all gave me and if I don't pick yours, I am very sorry. I still really appreciate you taking the time to give the option.**

 **Thank you so much for reviewing, following and favoriting this story, it means so, so much to me.**

 _ **To those who read my original chapter 18:**_ **I was very disappointed as to how it turned out. The negative responses I got for it, as well as my dissatisfaction, showed me that I had made a big mistake and I thank you for that. The responses of Clary and Jace were very immature and would not set up the story for the rest of the plot. This is a Clace story after all and I knew what I wanted for the basic plot, but not how to get there. So, I redid somethings in this chapter and I appreciate you being accepting of this and forgetting the crap from the original. If you don't know what I'm talking about, please ignore this.**

 **DISCLAIMER: ALL RIGHTS TO THE** _ **MORTAL INSTRUMENTS**_ **BELONG TO THE WONDERFUL CASSANDRA CLARE**

 **~~~~~~~~~~STORY TIME~~~~~~~~~~**

( _NOTE: this is a modified version of the original which hopefully makes up for before)_

Magnus and Alec had left very late last night, leaving a mess of plates, napkins and pizza boxes scattered throughout the kitchen and living room. No one cleaned up last night as everyone was too tired to, which meant that Clary would be the one to pick up since she was out of the shower first.

Ugh, today was going to be awful.

First day back to school from being sick and it was going to a long, excruciating time for her to actually get caught up with her classes. For the next few days, Clary's free time would be occupied with art projects, essays and to practice her speech without passing out. _Great._

Luckily, she only had one day of school till the weekend which she would go into 'The Flash' mode and would zip through her work..

Her roommate drowsily came out of his room to start the day. Once he caught onto what Clary was doing, his eyes found hers. Jace looked super grateful, but before he could open his mouth, Clary waved her hand in a nonchalant motion. "It's alright, I got it."

"Hey, so um...I was thinking...we have known each other for a while now and-" Jace was saying in a very hesitant and uncertain manner until she peeked at the clock and was forced to interrupt him.

"Oh shoot! Ugh, I was supposed to see my other teachers for the work I missed. I have to go or I won't have time! I am so so sorry, Jace. Can we talk when I get back? I'm totally swamped right now."

He rubbed the back of his neck. This side of Jace was so different from what Clary had witnessed before. It was like the more time that goes on, the more he lets his shell grow thinner, revealing, ever so little, his vulnerable side. For some reason, this made Clary feel fuzzy inside. "Y-yeah. Don't worry about it, it wasn't important. I understand. Good luck catching up!"

As she was rushing out the door, the girl turned and replied, "See you later!"

 **O.o.O.O.o.O**

Despite feeling absolutely terrible about it, Clary couldn't help but be so distracted and tied up into her work that she unknowingly ignored Jace, or almost any other human contact besides in her classes, for almost half a week.

What made it even worse was the fact that he had been trying to get her attention to discuss something which seemed important to him. It would just have to be delayed for a bit until after all the work was done.

This, surprisingly, made her sad for the wait.

After class on Tuesday, the exhausted girl collapsed on the couch once she finally got her key to fit in the doorknob. Looking around, Clary noted that Jace appeared to not be home. She decided that her mind needed a break from the nonstop work she did all weekend and turned on the television.

Well, the news was too depressing.

The soap operas Jace usually watched consisted in angry shouting in Spanish that she didn't understand..

Oh, the cooking channel had-

Clary's thoughts were interrupted by the door to their apartment being shoved open with so much force it was as though the person thought it weighed a hundred pounds heavier than it actually did.

That person was Jace Herondale, of course, who stormed into the small home with his hands raking through his head of messy curls, making his muscles in his arms flex. In that moment, with his eyes blazing, Clary had never thought of him as hot and lion-like as he was now.

"Jace," she exclaimed, "are you alright? What's wrong?" With a worried expression on her face, she stood up, turned the TV off and began moving towards the pacing being.

A few more paces later and he spoke, "No, I need to say something. I have been keeping this to myself because I know you were busy, but it has to be said. I can't keep it to myself anymore, no matter how destructive it could be…" Jace rambled and drifted off. He shook his head. "Okay, I'm exaggerating, but still." It felt like since he first walked in he was actually, _finally_ , looking at her.

"Jace, I don't understand."

He sighed. "Please, sit down."

This made the bewildered girl even more confused. "Okay," she did as she was told while he stood in front of her.

"So I don't really know how to say this. Ever since I first saw you that day in the parking lot and in the diner, I don't know, it was like something just clicked. I was drawn to you. Later, when you left, I couldn't stop thinking about you. Even now, it's like my mind can not help but always wandering to you, what you are doing, how you feel. You affect me in a way that no one ever has. And maybe never will.

"When my parents died, I put up walls that were unbreakable. Not even any of the Lightwoods could tear them down. Then you waltz into my life and all of the sudden I am left bare, vulnerable to the hurt of the world. A while ago you asked who I had a "crush" on and I told you all of the qualities of her which just so happen to be everything that I love about you, because that girl is you. The incredible, strong, beautiful woman I have come to know." He stopped talking, letting that all sink in for her while searching her pale face for any sign that might give away her thoughts.

The silence lasted for what seemed like days to the both of them. Clary could not seem to wrap her mind around the fact that someone so amazingly kind and handsome could ever like a girl like her.

Three days later, Jace spoke up again, "Clary, please say something. I kind of just opened my heart for you and you look like you are about to throw up. You are scaring me."

She looked at him, avoiding his eyes. "What do you want me to say?"

"Say yes."

"To what?" She was trying to avoid the question. There was no way that she was ready.

"Be my girlfriend. Well, I guess that's more of a demand than a question so, how about, will you go on a date with me?" She noticed the most hopeful expression on his face and it almost broke her.

In the slightest whisper, "I can't."

At first she thought that he had not heard her until he answered with, "Why not?"

Clary turned away, unable to look at the man in front of her. "I just got out of a broken relationship. I-I can't just put myself out there immediately. I need time to recover, Jace."

"And I completely understand that, really I do, I just needed to know if there is any hope for us," he said gently, almost carefully like he was trying to calm a raging horse.

"I-I don't know. I just can't go through what I went through again. Especially not so soon after. He was my first love and-" Clary stopped once she saw Jace's face snap into a blank expression.

"You think I'm a monster?" There was a hint of anger igniting in him, but it was just flushed out with a disappointed sadness. "You think that I would break your heart just like _him?"_ Jace spat the last word out of his mouth as though it were poison.

She felt like an inch tall, so she stood, her hand reaching towards him, "No, that's not it-"

"No, I get, I really do. I'm the playboy who breaks all the girls hearts and I can't blame you for knowing my past," he laughed humorlessly, hands curling into fists. "Just forget I said anything, okay? Just…" Shaking his head with a sigh, Jace practically ran out the door.

In the meantime, Clary fell back against the couch and stared blankly at the wall. _What just happened? Did I make a big mistake?_

The only thing she felt was a dull numbness that spread throughout her. Clary remained in the slumped position, trying to hide herself from reality in the cushions and pillows, until she could not remain in the stuffy apartment anymore. A long walk could clear her head and give her time to think.

 **O.o.O.o.O.o.O**

The fresh air hit Clary like a train, immediately making her feel a little better. She had decided to walk along the shops and restaurants to try to distract her from the earlier events. There were trees in the sidewalk blooming, spreading lovely scents of their fruit throughout the outside world.

A candle shop that Clary happened to wander into had soft music that could hardly be heard over the neighboring bar's rowdy people. It was weird that a bar was so populated on a Tuesday evening. After she was done in the shop, Clary walked by the place and couldn't help to peek in to see what all the ruckus was about.

As it appeared to be, it was just a bunch of intoxicated people trying to dance, stumbling over their own feet. She smiled, only it didn't quite reach her eyes. It seemed like just a normal occurrence, until a flash of gold caught her eye.

Confused, Clary walked in and saw that what she noticed was the one person she was trying to avoid.

Jace was pushed against a wall with the blonde girl from the cafe pressed into him. His hands were on her hips. For some reason, hurt pulsed through her as she stared at the two. She had no right to feel upset, she was the one who dismissed his huge leap of faith in sharing his feelings, but that did nothing to stop the aching.

Suddenly, Jace glanced over and had shoved the girl off in a flash. His eyes were wide in horror as he started stumbling towards Clary's retreating form, "No, Clary, it's not what it looks like-"

But it was too late, because Clary Fray was gone without a trace.

 **QUESTION:Do you want a chapter of this in Jace's pov? If so, let me know!**

 **If you didn't, please read or skim through the author's not up top. I hope this makes up for the long wait!**

 **Thank you all for reading and I would love to hear your thoughts!**

 **Keep being the amazing person you are!**

 **~ALB**


	20. Chapter 18 Jace's POV

**A/N Thank you all for supporting me throughout this story and for reviewing, following and/or favoriting it.**

 **DISCLAIMER: ALL RIGHTS TO THE** _ **MORTAL INSTRUMENTS**_ **BELONG TO THE BEAUTIFUL CASSANDRA CLARE**

 **Without further ado, I present to you, chapter 18 in Jace's POV!**

 **~~~~~~~~~~JACE'S STORY TIME~~~~~~~~~~**

Ever since Jace had that conversation with Alec the night he and his fiance came over, the golden man was on edge. He was definitely not at the top of his game and he just could not focus in class. He had to figure out what exactly was going on.

Of course, Jace had known he was attracted to Clary when he first saw her at the pancake diner, but the more he got to know her, the more these feelings inside him started to blossom into something else.

Which was terrifying.

Never in his life had he felt like this. No, Jace Herondale _never_ catches the case of feelings. In fact, he always avoided situations that would potentially show a part of vulnerability that had been hidden by a shell he created after his parents died. Unfortunately, this was something he couldn't evade. It would make a bigger mess than this already was.

It also wasn't helping that Clary was so caught up in her work that she had no time for any socializing. He wasn't blaming her, though, it wasn't her fault. Still didn't make things any better.

How could Jace explain to someone his feelings when he wasn't quite sure he understood them himself?

Jace decided to talk to Jordan about it after Tuesday's classes to see his point of view on this predicament.

The door to his apartment was red and had chipped paint on it, but the inside was so much more ornate. There was a large room with a velvet couch facing a tv on the wall perpendicular to the door. Through a large window straight ahead, Jace could see a dining room which was probably connected to the kitchen down the hall where the bedrooms were. Pictures of Jordan and his girlfriend hung on the walls along with the new color of paint they decided to paint them a few weeks ago.

"You know, there's this new thing that everyone is doing that you should really try. It's called knocking," a sarcastic voice came from the couch.

Jace smirked at the couple, "Nice to see you too, Maia."

"So Jace," Jordan said with a suspicious smile, "what brings you here to grace us with your presence?"

The visitor fell heavily onto the couch besides Jordan. "I figured you missed me a whole lot, but your pride got in the way of begging me to take you back." His grin slipped from his face, "And I need advice."

Maia gasped dramatically, "You? Needing guidance on something? What dimension have I stumbled across in which the great Herondale needs advice?"

Jace launched into explaining his problem.

 **O.o.O.o.O.o.O**

By the time he was done, Jordan's eyes had widened so much that Jace was surprised that they hadn't fallen out. Maia was the first person to break the silence with a clap. "You finally got out of your teenage ways of messing around. That's great! Why are you here then?"

"It's his fault that I'm so confused," Jace pointed accusingly at the other man in the room.

"Excuse me?" The look on his face was priceless.

"You are the one who moved out and forced me to have her as my roommate. If you hadn't left, I wouldn't have to venture into the unknown."

Maia butted into the two glaring men's conversation by saying, "This could be good for you, Jace. You are finally maturing and you could end up finding the one you want to be with. My advice, given the fact that I am currently in a happy relationship, is to open your heart and to take a chance. You won't be satisfied in life if you don't take any risks. It will be hard, possibly the hardest thing you will ever have to do, but it will be rewarding either way. In the end, you won't be burdened with this truth. Follow your heart."

"Who knew you could be so sappy, babe. Badass and romantic. Quite the catch I've got." Maia slapped Jordan's shoulder, but still melted into his kiss.

Jace knew how long it could be until one of them took a breath so he walked out the door, not before hearing Jordan shout, "Good luck!"

The whole ride back to his place was agonizing. He couldn't think of the right way to tell her. All he could do was hope that Clary wasn't home so he could have more time to practice and prepare. His hands were shaking so badly as he tried to unlock the door that it took a couple of minutes to achieve such a simple task.

Finally, Jace stormed into their home, raking his hands through his hair, completely missing the fact that his roommate was slumped on the couch.

"Jace," she exclaimed, making him almost jump out of his skin, "are you alright? What's wrong?" With a worried expression on her face, she stood up, and started making her way towards him which only made him more anxious.

It obviously was not the right time to say anything, but Jace wasn't in the right state of mind to stop himself. "No, I need to say something. I have been keeping this to myself because I know you were busy, but it has to be said. I can't keep it to myself anymore, no matter how destructive it could be…" His heart was beating unreasonably fast and he shook his head in exasperation. He was Jace freaking Herondale. No girl was going to get in the way of his charm. Only, Clary didn't seem like just a girl to him. "Okay, I'm exaggerating, but still."

"Jace, I don't understand." She looked scared.

He sighed. "Please, sit down."

"Okay."

Before he knew it, words started spewing out of his mouth like word vomit and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

"So I don't really know how to say this. Ever since I first saw you that day in the parking lot and in the diner, I don't know, it was like something just clicked. I was drawn to you. Later, when you left, I couldn't stop thinking about you. Even now, it's like my mind can not help but always wandering to you, what you are doing, how you feel. You affect me in a way that no one ever has. And maybe never will.

"When my parents died, I put up walls that were unbreakable. Not even any of the Lightwoods could tear them down. Then you waltz into my life and all of the sudden I am left bare, vulnerable to the hurt of the world. A while ago you asked who I had a "crush" on and I told you all of the qualities of her which just so happen to be everything that I love about you, because that girl is you. The incredible, strong, beautiful woman I have come to know." He stopped talking, letting that all sink in for her while searching her pale face for any sign that might give away her thoughts.

All hope left Jace as the color left her freckled skin. He couldn't take the silence any longer, "Clary, please say something. I kind of just opened my heart for you and you look like you are about to throw up. You are scaring me."

It was clear that she was avoiding his gaze. "What do you want me to say?"

Without a thought, Jace blurted, "Say yes."

"To what?" He could see and understand Clary's confusion as he did not quite know himself the answer.

"Be my girlfriend. Well, I guess that's more of a demand than a question so, how about, will you go on a date with me?" There, that wasn't such an extensive request, right?

He almost missed what she said with the deafening silence, but he had been listening too closely. "I can't."

"Why not?"

Clary turned away, to which Jace was grateful for so she couldn't see his expression. "I just got out of a broken relationship. I-I can't just put myself out there immediately. I need time to recover, Jace."

"And I completely understand that, really I do, I just needed to know if there is any hope for us," he said willing his voice not to crack. He would never intentionally hurt her, she had to understand that.

"I-I don't know. I just can't go through what I went through again. Especially not so soon after. He was my first love and-" He forced his face to be blank once he understood. Of course Jace should have known that his past would be held against him in the future, it was only a matter of time.

"You think I'm a monster?" This time he couldn't stop the strain in his voice. "You think that I would break your heart just like _him?"_ Jace spat the last word out of his mouth, feeling it burn from his tongue.

She attempted to reach for him, but he flinched away, "No, that's not it-"

"No, I get, I really do. I'm the playboy who breaks all the girls hearts and I can't blame you for knowing my past," he laughed humorlessly, hands curling into fists. "Just forget I said anything, okay? Just…" He could not stand to see the pity in Clary's eyes, so he stumbled out. He regretted saying anything. He regretted going to Jordan's. He regretted saying his feelings out loud and making them real.

So he did the only thing he could think of to get rid of the regret. Jace went out to the bar to forget.

 **o.O.o.O.o.O.o**

The bar was quite rowdy for a Tuesday evening. Music was blasting through the speakers as he sat down on a stool and ordered one of their specialties.

An unapprehended amount of time passed and Jace felt the alcohol working its way through his body. Eventually he had gotten up to go to the bathroom, only to be cornered by the most obnoxious, stubborn person he had ever encountered:Kaelie Whitewillow.

She had been trying to get with Jace ever since he walked into the cafe she worked at. It was ridiculous and borderline stalkerish the way she "accidently" bumps into him everywhere.

Jace rolled his eyes as he caught a whiff of her perfume that could be smelt a mile away. A grimace formed on his face when Kaelie appeared in front of him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Fancy meeting you here," she purred in a way that reminded him of a cougar getting ready to pounce on its prey.

Leaning against the wall, Jace attempted to shield the fact that he was tipsy. "What do you want?"

"You," she giggled. "I always want you."

Kaelie pressed herself into him, further trapping him in a very uncomfortable position. "Listen I'm not in the mood to deal with you right now…" His hands were on her hips as he prepared to shove her off until a glimmer of red caught his eyes.

Jace glanced over to the entrance of the bar just in time to see Clary backing out of it with a look of horror mixed with hurt. There was probably more emotions, but Jace couldn't tell with his foggy mind.

Seeing her gave him extra strength in his intoxicated state to push the blonde girl away and to shuffle his way towards Clary. "No, Clary, it's not what you think...wait! Please." He watched hopelessly as she ran away.

 _Great going, Jace. That's how to win a girl over. Tell her you love her then get caught drunk with a girl on top of you._ Jace slapped his hands to his head, wondering how he is going to get himself out of this mess.

 **I hope this suffices for updating a few days late. Sorry, it was my birthday.**

 **Anyways, that's what happened! I think this gives a better insight on the situation at hand with more than one point of view in there.**

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **Keep being the amazing person you are!**

 **~ALB**


	21. Chapter 19

**A/N Thank you for all who are sticking with this story. I never thought it would get this far and it's all because of you, so thank you. Also, thank you for following/favoriting/reviewing this story. Every small thing makes me super happy. Your reviews are amazing, even if you are just yelling at me or Jace.**

 **I'm trying to make these author's notes shorter so we can just get to the story.**

 **DISCLAIMER: ALL RIGHTS TO THE** _ **MORTAL INSTRUMENTS**_ **BELONG TO THE BEAUTIFUL CASSANDRA CLARE**

 **~~~~~~~~~~STORY TIME~~~~~~~~~**

Outside, it was very peaceful with some clouds forming over the sunny sky, a warmth spreading through the slightly humid air, indicating it was probably going to rain soon. Birds could be heard chirping nearby, talking to their other bird friends. The only sound besides the birds seemed to be the stomping of a small redheaded girl's feet, pounding on the pavement.

Clary ran out the door not caring where she was going, she just needed to get away. It felt like she was reliving the time Alec disclosed Simon's dirty little secret or the day that she watched Jonathan walk out of her life, but she knew she had no right to feel this horrible as she did. It was her fault. Clary was the one who pushed him away with her denial. Yet that didn't seem to stop the dams in her eyes from bursting. _It was all her fault._

This feeling was something she shouldn't be experiencing unless there was something underneath her central thoughts that Clary didn't know about...

Where would she go? She couldn't see Simon, obviously. Most of her friends either abandoned her or she abandoned them for Simon a long time ago. Alec would just blame her and make her feel worse, which she probably deserved.

A flashback abruptly hit the girl smack dab in her brain as she sprinted in front of a very familiar building. It was of the supermarket, right after having her discussion with the Lewis boy.

Now, she wasn't mindlessly running around town, for she had a destination.

Clary Fray was going to her mother, Jocelyn's house for the first time in forever.

 **O.o.O.o.O.o.O**

The house was so different from what she had expected, Clary stopped to rest and admired it. Actually, Clary didn't exactly know what she was anticipating, but it definitely wasn't a large house next to a busy police station which is where Luke works, she assumed.

After ogling at the house for a while, Clary finally decided to go to the front door and knock. She waited a minute before she repeated the action again. However, this time, the door opened before her knuckles could reach the wood.

Jocelyn Fairchild stood smiling politely in the door frame until she recognized who it was causing a ruckus. Surprise jolted through her body as tried to recover quickly so Clary wouldn't catch it. And had she not lived with her for the majority of her life, she wouldn't have.

"Clary! Hello, welcome, come on in," Jocelyn opened the door wider so her guest could enter.

Reluctantly, Clary stepped into the home looking around. "This is a really nice place, Joce-ehem." She cleared her throat awkwardly remembering that this was a brand new woman compared to the one she knew before, there was no reason to be formal.

"Oh, thank you. Please have a seat," her mother motioned to the cozy looking couch next to the door. "I'll make some tea and then we can talk or whatever you want." WIth that, she fluttered to what Clary guessed was the kitchen.

Clary's mind wandered to where her mom's old childhood friend was as she saw him and Jocelyn in the many pictures scattered throughout the living room. The crimson haired woman had never looked happier in the photos than her daughter had ever seen her.

Speaking of that woman, she just happened to stroll in right as Clary thought that, carrying two mugs on a platter with crackers. "So," Jocelyn spoke after sitting next to her on the couch, "what brings you here?"

"What I can't visit my own mother?" Clary asked bitterly, but started talking again after she saw her mom's face flush with hurt. "I wanted to talk to you about something actually. I screwed up majorly and I'm not sure if I can make things right. I really need my mom right now."

It seemed that at that moment, Jocelyn noticed the tears on her daughter's face that had dried up while she was running. "Oh, honey."

The next thing the Clary felt was the warm embrace of her mother.

"Tell me everything, I'll listen."

"It all started when I got the call from Alec Lightwood…"

 **o.O.o.O.o.O.o**

"Next thing I know, Jace is telling me he has feelings for me and-and I shot him down because I was so confused and I didn't know what to say. An hour later, after his confession, I find him making out with a blonde bimbo at some bar. The worst part of this is... I feel betrayed. I know, I know, that's the one thing I don't deserve to feel. I made him so it I just, gosh it's so stupid." Clary explained everything with her head in her hands, feeling absolutely ridiculous. All of this emotion over some guy.

"Clary," Jocelyn said softly in a kind, motherly voice, "There's probably more going on at the bar than it seems. You have to talk to him about it. Looks can be deceiving and it doesn't seem like Jace would do something like that after confessing his feelings for you. And...and also...I think you have more feelings for him than you think."

"What? No, I'm just flustered from what happened a little bit ago."

"That wasn't 'a little bit ago' when Simon cheated it was a good amount of time ago. I think you are just trying to find another reason to explain what these new emotions you are feeling because you are in denial. But it's okay to not be afraid of your emotions. Let them free."

"Thanks, mom, but I don't know…"

Jocelyn half smiled as she said, "Would you like me to take your mind off of it? I have something I found out today that I really want to tell you now that you are here."

"Alright."

As she spoke, the smile slowly increased until it was stretched so far across her face, Clary was surprised it didn't extend off of it. Her hands fell to her stomach. A deep breath. "I'm pregnant,"

What she had said did not register in Clary's mind for a second. It took her a while to finally realize that she was going to have another sibling. Her hands flew to her mouth and her eyes widened. Before she could reply a loud 'bang' echoed throughout the room. Both women jumped to face the source of the sound that just so happened to be Luke Garroway dropping this bag in shock.

"Are you serious? We are going to have a baby?" The excitement in his voice was clear.

"Yes," Jocelyn whispered.

Luke ran to her and picked her up, swinging her around in joy. "This is amazing!" Clary was squealing as he and his girlfriend kissed in glee.

Watching the two lovebirds celebrate made her realize that this is what she wants in life. She wants to fall in love like this, be there for someone while they are there for her. As she imagined herself in their situation, Clary was startled to recognize that the person she pictured with her was Jace Herondale.

Clary hugged Jocelyn, "Congratulations, mom. I have to go and clear some things up with a very important person. I'll talk to you later."

 **O.o.O.o.O.o.O**

Clary had started the trek home not being bothered by all the walking. She didn't want to ask for a ride because it would be interrupting probably one of the happiest moments in Jocelyn's life.

But now that the air had chilled, the sun had left and it was down pouring, she kind of regretted it. Not only was she soaked and shivering, Clary was creeped out by this part of the town with all of the dark alleys.

Someone had called her name from inside one, scaring her a million times more. Walking at a rate of one mile per day, she slowly crept in to see who they were and what they wanted.

Clary leapt a foot in the air as a hand fell onto her shoulder. She turned around and immediately caught sight of Sebastian Verlac. "Oh, Sebastian. You scared the crap out of me!" A tense laugh escaped past her lips as she tried to figure out how he got behind her without her knowing. "W-what are you doing here?"

The boy smiled, walking towards her and causing her to be pushed against the alley wall. "Clary, Clary, Clary. Did you know your daddy owes my dad a whole lot of money?" His grin turned evil, sending genuine fear bouncing inside of her bones.

Uh oh.

 **Oh no. Darn it Sebastian you were supposed to stay away! But Jocelyn is pregnant!**

 **Anyways, hope you guys liked it. I would love to hear your thoughts on it!**

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **Keep being the amazing person you are!**

 **~ALB**


	22. Chapter 20

**A/N Holy crap! We got 100 reviews on this story! That's amazing!**

 **Thank you all so much for reviewing, following and favoriting, it all means so much to me.**

 **I want to say just in case, the beginning is a little intense, so be careful reading since there might be some triggers in there. It's not super detailed or anything, but there is something implied so just a warning.**

 **Important note at the bottom, please read.**

 **DISCLAIMER: ALL RIGHTS TO THE** _ **MORTAL INSTRUMENTS**_ **BELONG TO THE BRILLIANT CASSANDRA CLARE**

 **~~~~~~~~~~STORY TIME~~~~~~~~~**

The rain had stopped just as fast as it started. Thunder still shook the ground.

Fear gripped her body, holding Clary paralyzed in her shaking body as Sebastian Verlac pressed her against the dirty wall of the dark alley. His breath, which was not very pleasant, blew into her face when he spoke. "So, how is it going to be, Clary? Are you going to pay for your daddy's little debt? Or come with me to _make_ him pay?"

By the look on his face, she could tell that he wanted to take her to do whatever he pleases. And his next actions just confirmed her theory.

Sebastian's lips found their way to her neck, making her shudder in disgust. In school, he seemed sweet to her, but now he was just a monster who shot terror through her heart.

The man grew impatient of her answer and growled at her. Clary dwarfed him and knew that there was no way out of this by physical force, so her only hope was diplomacy. "I would never pay for my father's expenses," she spat. "We don't talk anymore and even if we did, Valentine would never give up anything for me. No matter what you did to me."

"Is that a challenge?" An evil sneer replaced the small smile that was once there. However, the great intensity in his eyes stayed the same. "We shall see, Clary Fray."

He started to kiss her lips, which felt like acid on her skin. At first the small girl tried to fight him off, shoving and kicking whenever she could, but this just angered him more. Her arms were held to her sides with a bruising force. Clary bit his lip so they both tasted the saltiness of blood. Sebastian took this as a sign to go further and his hands started to creep towards the edge of her shirt.

Eventually, Clary gave up and just let his lips harass her own, hoping he would take the hint.

Unfortunately, this only frustrated him more. In a flash, he had torn off her shirt, leaving her in her plain black bra. Tears found their way down her face and she cried out for help. To shut her up, he moved his mouth to cover her's again. Clary went limp and tried to fall on the ground with her eyes shut to block this awful situation out of her mind.

One second, the dark man was doing horrible things, and the next a muscular arm was wrapped around his neck and pulling him to the ground.

Sebastian gripped at it, but the mysterious arm was doing its job of cutting off his air flow so he dropped unconscious. In the meantime, Clary tried to figure out who the person was, if she knew them or if they were just a kind stranger.

The arm definitely was not a male's body part, though it was muscular. Finally, the girl appeared from behind the fallen man's back. It didn't take her long time to recognize her old friend from high school.

She was about the same age as Clary, but taller and a whole lot curvier. When she first met her, Clary was jealous of the girl's curves as she had a small chest herself. Her skin was darker and her amber eyes contrasted Clary's pale, freckled skin and emerald eyes.

And her name was Maia Roberts.

"Oh my gosh," the brown haired girl breathed very heavily. "Clary, are you okay?"

Clary was silent as the tears continued to pour down her face.

"C'mon, let's get you home." Maia went to pull the other girl up, but ended holding her close in a tight embrace when she fell against her, trembling. "Oh, Clary, it's okay. He can't hurt you any longer. I called the police and apparently it's not the first time he's done something like this. They are going to put him away for a long time."

"Take me home, please," Clary whispered, hardly moving her swollen lips.

"Of course."

 **O.o.O.o.O.o.O**

It only took ten minutes for Maia to practically carry Clary back to Jordan's old apartment and Clary's current home. Clary felt bad about leaning on her old friend so much, but with her current state of mind, she didn't trust herself to be left on her own. Maia had taken off her jacket for Clary to wear since her shirt was in tatters.

All she could think about on the way there was how she was going to explain everything to Jace.

The silence was deafening between the two girls stumbling in the dead of night. Finally, Clary couldn't take it anymore. She needed a distraction. "So, w-what have you been doing since we last talked?"

"Really, Clary? After everything that just happened?"

"Please..? I don't want to keep thinking about what happened. What could have…"

Maia interrupted her. "Okay. Um...let's see…I went-well I'm _going_ to college with a major of animal sciences and that kind of thing. Me and Jordan moved in together not to long ago, I assume you already know."

"Wow, you and Jordan are still together? That's g-great." Now, the shivers weren't from the situation they were in, but from the one they were currently in . Her clothing was soaked from the rain and the air had turned cooler.

The pair began talking back and forth about their past. "Maia...I...I'm so sorry about what happened years ago. I was stupid and thought I-I was in love. I didn't realize...I n-never…"

"Hey," Maia stopped. "I could say 'I told you so', but that's cruel. I get it. After all you went through, it was nice to get some positive attention even if it meant edging all of us out. But hey, the things we do for love."

"But it wasn't love. Not really, I mean. He was in love with another woman and I never knew what true love was until…" Clary broke off, unsure of herself.

"Until what?"

"Jace...I have to talk to him and explain my stupid, petty actions." A quietness passed over them before, "Maia, I'm sorry. I've really missed having a badass friend like you."

"I missed my little ginger too," Maia teased.

"Can we be friends again?"

"Clary, we never stopped."

 **o.O.o.O.o.O.o**

Once Clary saw the apartment door, she tore away from Maia. Her hands were still shaking badly, so her friend had to unlock the door with her keys instead.

Inside, Jace was nowhere to be seen. However, his door was closed, so she figured that's where he was.

Suddenly, it was like her legs could no longer support what little weight Clary had. Exhaustion overcame her as she fell to the floor.

"Clary!" Maia shouted, but it sounded like she was underwater.

The noise must've startled Jace from inside his room as he bolted out as quickly as possible, so fast he almost slipped and fell on his face. "Oh my-Clary, what happened? I was getting so worried…" He crouched next to her and picked her up bridal style. Something in the fragile girl snapped. As Jace was holding her on the sofa, she started to break down. Sobs wracked through her body and the night's events replayed in her mind over and over.

Eventually, she fell asleep in Jace's lap. She could hear the murmurs of Jace and Maia talking about all that occurred

When Clary came to because of the light shining in her eyes, she jolted up. Jace had fallen asleep along with her, them cuddling close together. It appeared that Maia had gone back to her place, but a note with her new phone number was on the table that read 'call me anytime'.

Trying to not wake Jace, Clary crawled off of him and to her room to change her clothes. By the time she had returned, Jace was in the kitchen making a cup of coffee.

She wanted to pretend like yesterday hadn't happened.

Like she hadn't shot him down with a lie and petty excuses.

Like she hadn't caught him making out with a blonde bimbo.

Like she wasn't jealous because of it.

Like Sebastian had never gotten near her.

But she couldn't. Because it _had_ happened. And her feelings for Jace were real.

Clary walked into the kitchen and when she saw Jace's beautiful, golden eyes staring at her with care and caution, she blurted, "I think we need to talk."

 **Yes, I am horrible with cliff hangers. Muhahahah. Anyways, let me know what you think!**

 _ **IMPORTANT PLEASE READ:**_ **Sadly, this story is going to start wrapping up soon. I wanted to piece Clary's life back together from when it started falling apart, getting her friends back, a real man, her mom/family. Here's the thing, her family includes Jonathan. When I originally planned this out (yes I am that lame with planning), I had him coming back, but then I changed it. So, I am going to leave it up to you.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **Would you guys like more chapters with Jonathan or just to finish up the story in a few chapters? Please let me know!**

 **Okay end importance.**

 **Hey, if you want to check out my one shot I just wrote that would be awesome…Done self advertising now, I swear.**

 **Also, shout out to moon (guest) who reviewed while I was finishing this. I promise I won't just abandon this story! Please don't die!**

 **Thank you all for reading! I love you all!**

 **Keep being the amazing person you are!**

 **~ALB**


	23. Chapter 21

**A/N Yes, 'tis I! The one who has terrible problems with updating...** _ **oooooooh**_ **. I am back from the dead. So, sorry? It has been many rough months with no word on this story and for that, I apologize. Truth is, school kicked my butt physically and mentally, and took my motivation. After that, I needed a while to recuperate and then I just got so busy I had no time to update.**

 **And I feel super guilty for that.**

 **However, I'm not sorry that I took some me time. Blah blah...alright no one wants to hear about my life so let's just get on with the story, yeah?**

 **SUPER HUGE THANK YOU TO THOSE WHO FAVORITED, FOLLOWED AND REVIEWED! YOU ARE WHAT KEEPS ME INSPIRED TO WRITE!**

 **DISCLAIMER: ALL RIGHTS TO THE** _ **MORTAL INSTRUMENTS**_ **BELONG TO THE MARVELOUS CASSANDRA CLARE**

 **~~~~~~~~~~STORY TIME~~~~~~~~~**

The tension in the air was prominent as Jace handed Clary a spotted mug full of coffee while simultaneously sipping the steaming one in his other hand. Despite the fact that it was early, Clary was very awake. That is why the redhead immediately caught on to the fact that he was doing everything to avoid her gaze.

After she came out of her room and announced the fact that a conversation would be happening in a few moments, silence had engulfed the two of them. Neither knew what to say to the other.

Clary figured that he was waiting for her to set the tone, whether she was angry, sad or whatever. Staring at her coffee wouldn't help with that.

Truth is, she didn't want to have to have this discussion. There was no escaping it and it could bring her and Jace closer, so she could feel his arms around her again just as they had been the night before. Or it could just augment the schism that had been put between them.

"I want to start off by apologizing-" Clary started.

"Clary…"

"No," she fought back. She had things to say that had to be said, no exceptions or was her mistake to correct. "Yesterday, I let you talk and I think that I deserve the same respect."

"I'm sorry. I never, _never_ thought of you as a monster and I feel terrible that I made you feel that way. You are nothing like him. I was ignorant and naive. Simon and I...well, I thought it was love, but you have shown me more respect in _two days_ than I had ever been shown by the _years_ I'd known him. What we had was an exaggerated friendship, that apparently meant nothing to him. And I don't regret it, because I will learn from it. I guess I was so caught up playing the victim that I couldn't tell what I wanted." Clary took Jace's hand into hers, which looked a little ridiculous because of the difference in size. But it felt right.

"I lied. I told you I wasn't ready to be in a relationship because I wasn't over my last, but I was. I am. I was just scared that I would lose you once you got closer to me. But I'm ready and I want make my heart soar and butterflies flutter in my stomach when I'm around you like no one else. I want to give us a try and I really believe that we can work. I really, really like you." She looked him straight in the eyes, desperately trying to not get lost in them. Clary wanted to bare her heart to Jace, just as he did the same to her the day before, which was very hard for her despite the word vomit coming out of her mouth. The hope that had flared in her chest as she continued talking was soon diminished as she remembered the blonde from the bar and she dropped his hand, dejected. "However, I understand if you don't want me anymore. I wouldn't hold it against you."

Suddenly Jace blurted out, "I don't like her!" He cleared his throat, flushed. "Kaelie came on to me at the bar last night and you saw before I had the chance to push her off. She's always tried to get with me, but I've honestly only had eyes for you since the moment I saw you."

There was so many things she wanted to say and Clary could tell the same thing was happening for Jace, so she did the first thing that came to mind.

Clary leaned upwards onto her tippy toes and pressed her mouth to his.

This kiss was nothing she had ever experienced before. His lips were hard with shock at first, but then softened, moving in sync with hers. Sparks were flying off of their lips and Clary felt tingly all over. None of her kisses with Simon were ever near as euphoric as this. Simon was always dry and cold, making the kisses seem distant (now she knows why he was distant). To contrast, Jace was warm and made her melt into him. Everything she wanted to say to him, and vice versa, travelled through their electric kiss. It was perfect.

All other thoughts of her ex disappeared when Jace deepened the kiss even more. Her arms draped themselves around his neck, playing with his silky blond curls, while one of Jace's hands cupped her cheek, the other on her hip. He then grabbed both of her thighs and she wrapped her legs around them. Clary squealed as her back hit the wall of the kitchen gently.

Eventually, her hands found themselves under his shirt, feeling the taut muscles of his back and shoulders, while her tongue fought with his.

It was only when their tongues started playing games when they stopped because of Clary's out of the blue giggling.

"Clary…" Jace pulled away to her disappointment and relief, she needed to breathe. "Why…" he exhaled a breath before finishing, "on Earth are you laughing after a kiss like _that_?"

"I don't...know." She laughed again before sighing. "I guess after everything that has occurred...I needed to laugh…" He set Clary onto the counter, obviously concerned with the girl near hysterias. Jace rubbed the top of the cheek with his thumb and took her hand in an attempt to calm her.

Minutes past and all he could do was be next to her. She finally looked into his molten gold eyes to try and convey what she wanted. What she needed.

This kiss was much calmer and sweeter than the last. It was slow and brief, but it was exactly what it took to soothe her.

When he pulled away, Clary spoke, "Seb...Sebas-"

"Shhh," Jace put a finger over mouth. "Maia told me what happened. I'm going to kick his a-"

"Language."

"-bsurdly massive booty so hard he will see nothing but stars for the rest of his life. He will never hurt you again."

"Jace, you can't break into a state prison just to kick his butt. He's not worth it."

"Hey," he lifted Clary's head so she had no choice but to look at him. "I'm here. I'm here if you need to talk or if you need space, I understand. Just know you aren't alone. And you have Maia and I'm sure Magnus would love to listen, too." His hands found hers, gripping them tightly. "You are not alone anymore."

A tear slipped down her pale, porcelain cheek, emerald eyes shining in appreciation. "Thank you," she whispered. It took a minute to compose herself once again.

She wasn't alone. She had her mom, Maia, Magnus, and even Alec would probably stand by her. But most of all, she had Jace. He wasn't gone like she had feared. It seemed like everything was being put back on track.

"Let's have a triple date night. Me, you, Magnus, Alec, Maia and Jordan? I think it's what we need."

"I agree, Cherry. Let's plan on going to Pandemonium."

"First off, cute name, but I don't need a nickname, Goldilocks. Secondly, what's Pandemonium?" Clary asked with a tilt of her head.

Jace's eyes narrowed at the "Goldilocks" comment. "I will not give up. I will find a name for you." Clary rolled her own eyes, but let him finish. "Anyways, it's this really cool club where we can dance and have some fun without worrying too much. Don't worry about drinking, Alec is always the "DD"."

"I'm not much of a drinker myself, but sounds like fun!" Clary glanced at the clock. 6:38am. "Looks like only one of has time to get a super quick shower."

"Or we could take one together.." Jace smirked, evilly.

She shoved him towards the bathroom saying, "Go away, smelly."

"Thought we weren't doing nicknames!" Jace cried, his voice soon muffled by the closed door in between them. "Hypocrite!"

And with that, Clary got herself ready for another boring day at school. Except this time, she had a gorgeous blond that she gets to look forward to coming home to.

 **AHHHHH SUPER CUTE**

 **Anyways, I don't know when the next time I will be able to update between school and work, but I'll try to soon! I won't abandon this story. Even if it felt like it before this update.**

GUYS

 _SERIOUSLY_

 _ **Only, like, one person answered me on the Jonathon thing. Thank you**_ **!**

 **Thank you all for reading!**

 **Keep being the amazing person you are!**

 **~ALB**


End file.
